Anthro Pokémon Stories #1
by Flashfire
Summary: Ever wonder what it would be like if something weird happened to the Pokémon world as it is known from canon..? Well, this fic, set slightly ahead of the present, explores one possibility...
1. Chapter 1-5: This is how we start

Anthro Pokémon Stories #1: Chapters 1-5   
(this file contains prologue and chapters 1-5)   
  


**Anthro Pokémon Stories:**   
**#1 - The Mess-up**

An Anthro Pokémon darkfic by Flashfire   


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It was dark outside. The wind was howling and it was generally a very tossed-up atmosphere. Other then that, it was quiet. Inside the room, it was silent to, save for a clock ticking every second on the wall. He was pacing back and forth, thinking. Near him was a table. On it, pen and several sheets of paper. After several minutes of pacing, he sat down at the table and started writing…He stopped after a bit, and thought for a while. He then carried on writing… 

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This is what has happened since I was born. Why I am writing this, I don't know, but it will be useful to someone. For a better understanding of this, I'll go through the history I know of… 

1970 - Silph Co. was founded. Sold Pokéballs, invented in 1950. Before 1950, you had to acquire trust and hope they would stay with you. Needless to say, some of the great battles took place before then…   
--   
1977 - Leading scientists from Silph set out to create better catching balls then the previous standard pokéball. Two ideas were set up: The Great Ball and the Ultra Ball. Neither would always catch, but they would catch more often then the Pokéball.   
--   
1978 - The Great Ball was released and sold. Original cost: $20 each. Cost now is about $5. And the design never changed. Just the fact the other balls were released dropped the price.   
--   
1980 - The Pokemon League was established. 4 people headed it, Lorelia, Bruno, Agatha, and Sabrina. At this time it ran itself. It was independent of Silph Co, or any of the rapidly diminishing pokémon goods manufacturers that were left.   
--   
1982 - Lance was accepted into the Elite Four prima to Sabrina being too powerful. Sabrina went off to run the Saffron Gym. Word was never heard from her until some time in '96 but it was known that she kept running the gym. Only Ash and a few others ever got a Marsh Badge. Probably because she was Elite…   
-- 

1985 - Lancashire, England. - 16 Sep was my birthday. As you can guess I personally know nothing of this day or before it…only what I have been told. What else happened this year - The level of pokémon eligible to compete in the Pokémon League was raised to 100 from its previous level of 75. Mainly because all the Elite's lv75 Pokémon stayed lv75, but were probably rated higher anyway. Meaning nobody was going to be able to beat them. Yet no one did for several years anyway... 

--   
1990 - Silph Co. invented the Ultra Ball - capable of more then the Great Ball, sold at $25. From the release of this, competition against the Elites became tougher. People weren't expecting too long before they were beaten.   
--   
1995 - The first trainer won over the Elite Four. His name was Gary Oak. Ash Ketchum, the second trainer to defeat the Elite Four, beat him and the others about a day or two after. Ash stayed champion after this for a long while   
--.   
1998 - Several trainers won over Ash using overly leveled pokémon. One had a strange not-yet-seen pokémon that was described by the experts as a "Missingno". Ash was reinstated as the champion after these trainers were found out.   
-- 

~ 2000 - I turned 15 in this year, and was given my pokémon trainers license. Then I set out on my journey. I don't need to detail it, I was given a Pikachu and an amount of money, and then I went around various places catching more and selling some off. You may think that was harsh to the Pokémon, but there isn't really any other way to make a living out there. I kept the best and trained them up, using them to get more, I continued on… 

--   
2001 - Ash Ketchum was assassinated - Links led to the group he had beaten but nothing was proven. Gary was also seen prior to Ash's demise, for the first time since his loss against him, nothing was proven there either. Since Gary disappeared again soon after, the first female trainer to beat the Elite Four, Meg, was placed in the champions position.   
--   
2003 - Silph Co publicly release their Master Ball. Sales went through the roof. Silph Co made so much profit, they became a global industry in pokéball making and dealing. 98% of all pokéballs were Silph Co. All Great Balls and higher were Silph too, as they had patents on them. Silph Co became the largest business in the history of the world so far. The only people with more money were the over-bribed politicians. Politics had become screwed when the government was bribed to make bribing the government legal. From there, it started to decline. Silph Co used this gap in the government to expand. Late in this year, they gained part power in the government itself. 30% of people were willing to let Silph Co handle everything. The others weren't so sure. Neither was the government in power. Global government was only forced in last year, and Silph had some control already…anyone could try and guess where it would end up…   
--   
2005 - Meg attains 4 years in the champions spot. Silph Co. took over sponsoring and running of the Pokémon League. Open challenge is made of a ¥10000 prize for beating the Elites, including Meg. No one succeeded to do so that year. Silph Co increased their hold on the government, and things stopped declining. At the end of this year, Silph Co took 90% majority in the government. They were doing okay too. Though they made sure the main thing sold were pokémon goods - Particularly Master Balls. They did make lots of profit off of them, after all. Except the number of wild pokémon was starting to diminish. So soon the profits would stop. And there would be no wild pokémon left. Silph Co said they would come to an answer to this but they never did. 

16 Sep 2006 - Though I covered 35 years in the above, I will cover up to now in a long story format… 

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1)- The Return - 16/09/06 

I arrived back in England for my 21st. It was only fair that I do that, I mean everyone else went home on their birthday, why shouldn't I? Mom wasn't surprised to see me, though she hadn't for three years, I had been training extra hard for this week, I was due in Florida by Friday, only 4 days, I was fighting the Elites and had beaten the first four in consecutive matches. I was given a week leave from the battling to heal up and do something. Lucky me. 

In the 6 years I had been pokémon training, I had caught only 35 pokémon. Though I only ever used 6 at once, and they were always the same six: Senkouhi (Flareon), Myuutsu (Mewtwo), Hinoko (Jolteon), Hayai (Eevee), Kakon (Burakki), and my first and still best pokémon, Mashu (Raichu). Mashu was my first pokémon, I got him as a Pikachu but he had a run in with a thunderstone in early 2002 and evolved. He didn't mind though. And it didn't change him too much either. My next best was Myuutsu. Wild Mewtwos are very hard to come by…But since they started cloning Mewtwos instead of Mews, about 6 years ago, they managed to find the Mewtwo that would obey…And I happened to have passed by a colony, one of many that was set up to have these Mewtwos exist everywhere…Anyway, I got one…   
"Well, it's your 21st, eh?" Dad said. I wasn't really bothered about it, I was too busy thinking of whom I was going to have to face. 

At this time, the Elites were same as they had always been, apart from Sabrina early on, but that was sorted then. I had gone through and beaten the first four. Under old rule, you would have had to fight the current Pokémon Elite Champion, which then was Ash (stress the was, he was assassinated 5 years before), straight after. However, they had to change that last year, when trainers were being beaten by Meg's first pokémon, against all 6 of theirs. So Silph Co gave you a week to heal up. I was currently in that week. I had 3 days left in England before I was going to set back off for America. I was going to use it to train; and believe me in saying that we were going to train real hard...So after the initial hellos I slipped to the local gym. 

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2)- The Gym - 16/09/06 

It wasn't too far to the local gym. Just half a mile walk and you were on the other side of the road it was on. Couldn't miss it. Normally all the trainers from nearby that didn't go nomadic and travel around, as I had done, came here to practice, learn new things, and generally hang around. Myself, I hadn't been here for about a year. Understandably so, seeing as I had been elsewhere for most of that year. 

(Background info: There were a total of 25 gyms in England. Of these, only 2 gave badges. The others were League-sanctioned training gyms. The US had 8 gyms that gave badges. In the East, there were only 6 between the whole of that area. And, yes, Australia had one of them. 

Now, the UK had it's own mini League, which only required winning badges from the two gyms we had. Though those two counted for entry to the US one too. Though you needed to get 6 more. This wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but it was done. And then I faced the Elites, as I said, and I was due to face Meg in about a week…) 

I turned the corner around the street, I expected to see the gym on the left hand side, thus I did - Except the gates were locked and there was a sign, visible but not readable from this distance. What was Daryl up to now, I thought… 

(More background info: Daryl was the Gym Leader at this time. I had met Daryl back at training, when Rebecca was the leader. Daryl was always disorganized but he was loyal to the gym, Rebecca liked him, it was plainly obvious. She had left when Silph Co had offered her a position up at the head Silph office, in their research or something. She passed control to Daryl and left. I had to make a note to visit her one of these weeks.) 

Reaching the gates, I looked around. The gym inside was in bad condition, the roof was holed and several bits of the walls were missing. I got over the initial shock and read the sign. It read like this… 

Notice:   
This Gym has been closed by the SPLC (Silph Pokemon League Council) for the following reason:   
The gym leader, Daryl Keokua, has not been heard from by the SPLC for several months. A representative was sent to visit; Daryl was not there, just his 4 pokéballs (empty). Local enquiries indicated he had been missing for a while. The representative thought it best to close this down until another trainer of the town took stay here instead of moving around, as Daryl was the only able trainer to keep the gym. 

There was the standard SPLC address, and stuff. The sign was torn slightly, and was dated 6 months ago. Meaning he would have left not long after I set back out a year ago. I read again. He left with his pokémon but without his pokéballs? That made no sense…Hold on, 4 pokéballs? He only had 3 pokémon; they were Flareon, Vulpix, and Arcanine. Then I realized. He'd caught another. Good for him. But then, he only ever caught fire pokémon, and there hasn't been any fire pokémon around here for ages…Maybe he got a different type. It's always smart not to be weak to water… 

I looked around for several more minutes, before turning away. At the other end of the street, when he got there, I heard a shout, "Hey, kid…" and turned to where it had come from. Standing there was this old man, 70+, cane and all.   
"Yeah…what?" I asked, rudely but not snapping.   
"There's a rumour about what Daryl went for. I know that it is true, I saw it…" he said.   
"Well, go on - What would that rumour be then?" I asked.   
"The hole in the roof…that was made by a fire bird. The legendary Moltres! I saw it, I did!" he said.   
Being the knowledgeable sort, I was aware that Moltres used to reside atop the Stadium, or it did 3 years ago, before Silph offered refuge to the legendary trio, and the fact remains that they haven't been seen since. Silph say they're ok every single press conference, so I would think they are…But that small fact made his story kind of hard to believe…   
"And Daryl, the other pokémon, how did they leave?" I asked.   
"We don't know - Though I'm sure the bird burnt them all to ashes…there could be no other explanation…"   
I turned to head away, "Thanks for the info…Oh yeah, do you know which pokémon he caught to make it four that he owned?"   
The man shrugged, "Last pokémon he caught was a Pidgeotto…"   
Thinking, I walked away. 

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3)- The Inevitable Return to US - 16/09 onto 23/09 

Well, this week was a quick one. It consisted of lots of training, on a grassy field, called just that, "GRASSY FIELD". Someone to be funny had written on the sign so that it read "GRASSY FIELD OF NO RETURN" - Needless to say, we returned back to the house, on the evening of the day before the one I was due back for the final battle. I packed food and things, enough to last me a couple of days, Mom threw some extra in, Dad tossed me 6 black catching balls.   
"Master balls, son - Keep better control of those 6 you keep with you…" he repeated from the advert.   
"Dad…they're in great balls and I have full control on them…" I told him.   
"Just in case…besides, the black looks better then that green anyway." he responded.   
So, fine, I transferred my 6 to the black balls, inside the machine that was made for that very purpose, and handed the green great balls back to him. Doing this then was to prove to be a major problem in the upcoming future…   
I headed out and set off walking towards the airport, everything packed. I let Mashu out of his ball, and placed the ball back in my pocket. He hopped on my head and I continued walking. The airport was not far from here, only about a mile, but it seemed like forever as the endless slurry of buildings continued on and on down this particular road. This place had been hit rather hard by the depression caused by Silph taking control and passing all deals to them rather then the locals. There had been 8 local firms around here, 7 had closed up, and one of them was still open but losing business rapidly. Especially when Silph set up a chain PokéMart or 6 where the others had been. It was rather a grey day, too, but considering the pollution levels of your average mid-depression town in 2006, that wasn't surprising. Eventually I walked through the gates of the airport and headed over to the transatlantic flight of the day. 

It wasn't very busy, not many people travelled in or out of this town by plane, I was due in Florida in roughly 2 days, the time I would wait gave me a chance to get there and get a room sorted for the couple of days. By no means was I nervous. I had heard of how Meg fought. Hard, intelligently, psychically - That was to be my biggest disadvantage coming into the fight - The rest I could counter with my own. As I sat in the waiting room, with 10 minutes to wait, I thought of what would happen if I won. Then, if I lost. I was not making myself anxious here; I was just considering things. I would leave it to the day to get bothered about it. 

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4)- The Meeting - 23/09/06 (Day 1) 

At this moment, I was walking down the street towards the Elite's Gym, in Tampa. I knew where it was, I had been before, defeated the first 4, then gone away and come back. It was that time, where I would have to face the Elite champion, Meg. I was walking along, I felt no nervousness still, I was fully prepared, and I believed I could win. I walked into the large building, where there were about 6 people waiting for me.   
"He has returned…Welcome, Matt," one of the Silph overseers said.   
"Thanks…" I had seen all these people last time, so none of them were Meg, I was sure of that.   
"I feel you may wish to meet Meghan before you battle…I am sure it will be a most interesting one…"   
He wasn't indicating whether he was referring to the battle of the meeting with Meg…I did not ask…He turned and shouted towards the back room, "Meghan, could you come out here, please…?"   
Everyone looked to the back room, I followed suit. 

From the depths of the back room, out walked Meg. She was about 5'11, brown eyes, and brown hair; she was wearing a yellow blouse and a long cream-yellow skirt, much the same as many of the Silph Co female employees wore. The first thing you had to notice was the piercing look her eyes gave. Of course, there was not many a thing in this world that could bother me, so I acknowledged it but was not affected. She seemed startled at my reaction, which surprised me, but I didn't feel it important.   
"So…I am to fight you, then…" she said, quietly.   
"Correct…" I managed to say before the main person, Mr Silph effectively, called from a speaker set high up.   
"Welcome Matt. Please proceed into the arena area; Meg will do so too, take your position upon the red square at the near side of the stadium, then just battle. I shall be watching, so make it a good loss…" He trailed off the end bit, laughed, and the speaker shut off.   
"Weird…" I thought. 

Then I stepped into the arena. It was quite a large area, very tall, with space marked for 4 separate arenas, though today we were going to be on the centre one. I took position upon the lit red square on one side of the arena, and waited for Meg to take her position. This she did, and facing each other, the arena was cleared. The square, and an area around it, rose up to a height of about 9 feet. Then, a railing slipped out of the floor, ensuring I wouldn't fall off. Meg spoke from the far end,   
"This shall be a 2 on 2 battle - Please nominate 6 pokémon from which you shall select."   
"My six…we have Senkouhi, Myuutsu, Kakon, Hayai, Hinoko, and Mashu." I knew I was not obligated to reveal which pokémon they were. "You can be sure I shall use those 6, as they are all I carry. Ask Lance what he thinks of them…"   
Heh - I had beaten Lance hands down with just Senkouhi. Mashu was resting up from the fight with Agatha, I needed a strong pokémon to use against the ghosts, and so I had…   
"Flareon, Jolteon, Mewtwo, Eevee, Burakki, Raichu - Just say so next time…" Meg said, with authority.   
My jaw hit the floor. Well, not literally, mind.   
"Psi is wonderful, don't you think? Oh, wait…you wouldn't know…" Meg responded to my thoughts instantly. I shuddered, before thinking a loud, "GET OUT OF MY HEAD" which made Meg step back a step.   
"Now we have stopped with the mind games, shall we battle?" I asked.   
Meg looked pissed off, "Sure…Lugia, go…"   
She tossed a blue ball into the air. A flash, and out popped a large blue bird. I looked, thinking. She caught a LUGIA? Well, only one way to try this…   
"So…My pokémon shall be…Myuutsu…" Picking up the black ball, I tossed it out. The platforms lowered to 2 feet. Evidently this was because they would be attacking in the air. Now, time for the fight… 

"Myuutsu, Psychic Blast…" I said. Meg said nothing, as Myuutsu floated up in the air, gathering energy. From the tips of Myuutsu's balled palms came a bright blue light, as the energy started to swirl around his paws. He drew them back, and then threw them forward, towards the psychic bird pokémon of Meg's. Lugia flew aside under it's own command, and then flew up towards the roof. Meg was not moving much at this point. Then I thought. Psi again…She's telling them their attacks through psi? 

Lugia headed up and up, turned abruptly as it would have hit the ceiling, then swooped down towards Myuutsu, glowing blue now.   
"Myuutsu, watch out!" I shouted up. Myuutsu turned around and managed to swing out of the way, knocking Loggia's wing as he did. Lugia spun out and swooped awkwardly over my head before regaining control and flying back towards Myuutsu, powering up some sort of beam in its beak. My response time was bad, so I shouted out to Myuutsu at the moment he was hit by Lugia, from the other side. Lugia flew aside again, before turning back and unleashing an ice beam. Myuutsu spun around but was hit. It continued for a while, and I heard a clunk. Myuutsu was encased and it had dropped to the floor, not breaking. But, I should have been able to have Myuutsu use psi. Except, he seemed more stasis like then trapped-in-ice like. I returned Myuutsu, and watched the ball turn to ice. Didn't bother me, I could heal it later. For now, the battle would continue.   
"Go Mashu - Show that Lugia the power of lightning…" I whispered to Mashu, still on my head. He hopped off my head and onto the arena floor. Lugia was wasting no time. As soon as Mashu was out, it went for him like a shot.   
"Mashu, Lightning Strike, on three…" I said, as the Lugia closed in. Meg watched silently, obviously still psi-commanding the Lugia.   
"1, 2…" I held as it drew in…Mashu's cheeks started to spark in their usual manner, "3!" As I said three, Mashu put a paw up, and released the lightning. Lugia had no chance to pull out at that distance, and the lightning cut its speed as it removed energy and damaged the Lugia. Meg cussed under her breath.   
Lucky break> I heard her say in my head. (Not half as lucky as a frozen Mewtwo, eh Meg?) I thought, knowing full well she could hear. She stayed quiet, and gave me the icy look. I went right back to the battle.   
"Mashu, Thunder Vortex…" I asked of it. Mashu drew out both paws and a spiral of electricity came forth from both of them, crashing together in a vortex about 7 feet up. Then, for no reason, Mashu was flung into the vortex. I saw Meg smirk as he was flung out of the other side, Lugia still flying around.   
(Oi…That's illegal and you know it) I thought to seemingly myself. Oh, but is it? Try proving I did anything…> she thought back. She had me there. I then thought of something else. Something I had been trying in the training this week. It was at extreme risk to myself, but it would be enough.   
"Mashu, to me" I said. Mashu popped back onto my head.   
You are calling him back?> Meg thought. (Don't be ridiculous…If you can obviously do that and say Lugia did it, I can bend that rule too…) I informed her.   
"Mashu, remember the Thunder Swap tech I was trying to teach in training?" I asked him. He nodded, fully understanding. "Well, do that. Now. Sitting on my head." Mashu looked reluctant. Meg looked on, bemusedly.   
"Go on…" I pressed. Mashu stood up, sighed his Raichu sigh, and thundershocked me. Meg watched, thinking I had just lost because of pokémon rebellion. I laughed. I wha? I didn't know she thought that.   
(Do get out of my head - I'm starting to get what you're thinking now…) I asked. I didn't transmit that…> Meg said. Electricity continued to surge down me, noticeable for all around the arena. In the spectation box, they watched, intently.   
"You see…" I said. "The reason I get on with raichus, pikachus, etc, is mainly because I carry my own electricity. How? Cuz you get resistant to it after the first year with this one. If you're using your own psychic, I should be able to use my own electricity…"   
"You can't prove I used anything…" Meg replied.   
"Lugia does NOT learn potent psychic ability at that level. Mewtwo does. Mew does. Lugia doesn't…" I replied.   
"Anyway, it was evident it was you…Prove to me, then, that this isn't Mashu rebelling and trying to shock me, and that what I'm going to do is just a coincidence. Because, I will say that is what it is…"   
Meg stopped, thought, and then sat on air. "Go ahead…"   
I smirked. "Gladly…" 

Meg took control of Lugia again, and she got it to swoop towards me. I stuck out a hand. "You will not have seen this done…" I said. Mashu let out a cry, "Raiii…" I braced myself, before Mashu shunted the amount of surge several times, "…Chu!" I decided to finish the word, as the thunderbolt shot from my hand and encapsulated Lugia. Mashu hopped from me and landed atop the Lugia as I released. Meg saw what had happened, and looked as bewildered as I had done when I discovered her psi.   
"Mashu, Thunder now!" I cried out, gripping the railing. I still had a lot of electricity to clear out, Mashu thundered Lugia but it was weak. Meg looked on, "Ha…Mistake…" she pointed out.   
"Not quite…" I threw a hand forward again and a thunderbolt headed for the two. Meg saw the inevitable and tried to command Lugia to shake Mashu off but the bolt hit him and passed to Lugia. As I ran out, Mashu jumped off Lugia and back towards the platform, as Lugia fainted in mid-flight and plummeted. Meg caught Lugia with a return before it hit the floor.   
"That was incredibly smart…" Meg pointed out. "I didn't think anyone was capable of keeping that much electricity in that manner…so I never thought that would happen…"   
"Your last pokémon?" I asked.   
"Oh yes…Kichigai, go…" 

Meg tossed out a yellow ball and it hit ground. Out popped a Raichu.   
"I have a Raichu too. While it doesn't know that attack you have just done, it should more then serve to beat you…"   
Both Raichus floated into the air. I looked to Meg, who was evidently responsible.   
"I wish the match to take place where both are vulnerable. Test of stamina, if you will…They are both in the same position…" she said.   
"As you wish." I looked doubtful.   
This battle had become weird very quickly - So what better way to cap it then with an airborne fight with two not usually airborne pokémon? At least, I thought that then… 

So, the battle started. Meg was sitting down, she was using a lot of her abilities to keep the two in the air, and still commanding psychically, so that I didn't know what the pokémon was going to do next.   
"Mashu, Thundershock!" I said, still a bit tense from this increasingly weird situation. Mashu spun backwards in the air, then launched a thundershock at Kichigai. The other Raichu dived out of the way and went under Mashu, before coming back up behind him with a short sharp tackle. Mashu was knocked upwards, and Kichi began to charge up…   
"Mashu, Thunderbolt, take...uh...him, her, it?" I looked to Meg.   
She's female…> Meg said.   
"Mashu, Thunderbolt her…" I said. Mashu would have no qualms about fighting here. Such was the way in Pokémon. battling…Kichi was blown upwards again, hitting off the ceiling before coming to a stop in front of Meg again, before floating to the centre. Mashu floated to face her. Kichi started to charge up.   
"Mashu…" I heard Meg again, by accident, Kichi, thunder…> I thought this was a mental error, slipped because of her efforts to keep them up, and continued, "Thunder…To counter…" I slipped that deliberately. Meg looked up at me, facefaulting, then realised her own error and continued to hold them up. The two raichus continued to charge up… 

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Elsewhere in the building: (Appended to records from a future date) 

A man was working at a computer vidscreen. He was hurriedly tapping on the holo-keyboard, trying to do something important. He pressed delete and watched a bar progress on the screen. The door burst open, and the man stood up, to be confronted by three more.   
"Boss wants to see you, Doctor…" said the one in the middle.   
"Well, uh…I was just leaving…Can't I leave a message?" the man asked, pathetically.   
"When the Boss wants to see you, he wants to. NOW." the man was overly insisting when he said that.   
The Doctor turned back to the vidscreen, before tapping a couple more buttons in. He jabbed one, and the screen went fuzzy. One of the men walked up to the Doctor, "Oy, you coming or what?"   
"Nothing can undo what she has done to the Silph industry…Or what she plans to do…" He punched another key and the screen blackened. The Doctor pulled out a great ball.   
"No, if you wish me to come, you shall fight for it…"   
The men laughed. "Seriously, you're going to beat us with one pokéball!"   
They laughed harder when a Beedrill popped out. "Oh come on…" The centre man reached for his master ball at his waist, "Mewtwo, go and sort this lowlife out…" He tossed the ball. It went clunk against the hard floor, and popped open, empty, save for an energy residue on the inside. The man looked disturbed, before grabbing his other masterballs, clicking them open, and offering his men to do the same. None of them contained any Pokémon.   
"You see, she had it all worked out…Beedrill, Twineedle attack on them…" The Beedrill promptly obeyed and the men fled, unable to win. The Doctor proceeded to gather his things, when a female voice called from behind him, "Going somewhere?" He spun around.   
"…Rebecca…I didn't expect to see you back here…" The Doctor looked displeased.   
"You thought you could trigger it yourself. Ha, you could only do it for this room…" She looked at the master balls on the floor, "So it does work…Well, that's the untested part sorted…"   
The Doctor ran the vidscreen back up. Rebecca removed a small case from her sack. Opening it, it contained a key.   
"The second key…Now the rooftop transmitter will spring alive…And I won't hit a 6 meter radius instead…"   
Rebecca laughed, "Nope, Derek…more like 6 million…" She collected the masterballs from the floor and sprang them shut before popping them into her bag.   
"We can be gone before they know anything has happened…Think of that…$45 million, just for spending some years working here…" Derek said as he tapped the keyboard.   
"It's going to be nice…think of what TR can do with this knowledge…" Rebecca said, as she placed the key she had brought with her into a slot on the wall. "Derek, over here, I can't reach both at once…"   
"Sure, Rebecca…" Derek came over. Rebecca kissed him suddenly then.   
"Ahh…Let us not waste time, there will be plenty of time in the Caribbean for this…" Derek said, before walking up to the other key slot on the wall, pushing his in… 

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Back at the battle scene 

The pokémon had been charging for a while now. At that moment, Mashu gained a swirl of lightning around him. I knew he was nearly at full power, Kichi was struggling to keep charging and concentrating at once…Mashu went full yellow from my perspective. Sparks whizzed from him to any available surface, and quite a number to me. Ignoring the small current, I called to Mashu, "Thunder, now!"   
Kichi looked at Mashu, before doing a thunder of her own just then. Mashu was caught off guard, he used his thunder, and the arena was lit up with lots and lots of stray electricity. The whole arena was lit up, and people passing by were crowding by the doors, watching. Several stray bolts hit Meg and me and I was flung back to the railing, which I grabbed. Meg was having trouble concentrating, but the pokémon were staying in the air. I shouted to Meg.   
"Are you keeping them up there?"   
Meg shook her head, "Kichi…She is using negative electric charge…"   
I thought for a while. Damn, they were powering up way too long. This was going to be bad for the building…Two supreme forces of electricity, of opposite charge, being forced into such a space…The results could be cataclysmic…It was all a case of which of them would get tired out first. The only thing was, I could see Mashu just floating there, lifeless.   
"MEG? FIND OUT WHAT MASHU IS DOING, COULD YA PLEASE??" I cried out. Meg sat down, then stood up, "They're both locked in stasis…This much electricity is not meant to exist here…"   
I cursed the ground. Why did they have to be in the AIR? Of all places…The electricity wouldn't disperse…   
"Can you bring them down?" I asked. Meg tried for a while, but shook her head, "This is beyond my abilities…"   
I hit the answer, "Why don't we just return them?" Meg thought for a while, then replied. "You first…"   
I thought. She was still preoccupied on winning?   
"Both at the same time, Meg - This is deadlock, a draw…No-one is winning, indeed they're refueling each other as the charge cycles…" I explained. Meg pulled out Kichi's ball. "Fine…A draw…Which means a rematch…"   
"Fine with me - Just let's sort this out first…" I said. Pulling Mashu's black ball from my waist, I held it out. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
Back elsewhere inside the building (Also appended from future date) 

When they both turned the keys, the wall slid open and another vidscreen was hidden behind there. It popped into life, and Rebecca took the screen. She inputted several things, then hit another button. The machine hummed, before a light flashed over a button.   
"There it is…The one to cause the final hour…X time…TR will have a field day. Just as long as they don't keep master balls with them…"   
Derek facefaulted. Rebecca looked to him. "You DID send the memo about that, didn't you?"   
Derek fished it out of his pocket solemnly. Rebecca wapped him around the head, "DAMMIT - Ah well, Us two will have a field day then - Just use the other one on the TR member's pokémon, and they can continue…"   
Rebecca hit the button. The machine hummed violently. Rebecca detected something wrong.   
"Uh…Derek?" Derek looked up. Rebecca looked anxious, "How much power has this machine got going to it?"   
Derek checked the power supply in the near corner, "158,000 volts…Standard mains for the room…"   
Rebecca went wide-eyed, "Uh…I developed this, based on a standard 24,000 V lab supply…   
Derek looked at the machine, "It's still running, isn't it?"   
"You don't understand - The frequency of the signal past the 6 meter limit is decided by the power going in - It's 6 times too high…It's going to run the ball machinery too far…And probably the machine will blow too…"   
Derek thought, "So instead of being liquidized into so much energy, the pokémon will…?"   
Rebecca started running for the door, Derek followed hurriedly.   
"The pokémon will probably become unstable energy instead…Which spells trouble for us if we don't disappear…"   
Rebecca said. They ran off down the corridor. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
Inside the battle arena 

"On three…We return…Must be the same time otherwise the influx could kill one or the other…" Meg said.   
"Got it" I replied.   
"1…2…" Meg drew closer to the three, while I kept the ball clasped…   
"3…" Meg said.   
"Mashu, return!"   
"Kichigai, return!" The words were spoken in almost perfect unison. Twin white beams reached from each of our master balls and connected with the pokémon, spiraling them in to the balls, the loose energy dispersed in the still air.   
"Phew…" I breathed a sigh of relief. "Come Meg, I think we must go to the pokémon center…"   
"I'll agree to that…" She floated down off the platform and walked alongside me. We headed out of the door. 

As we were walking, two scientists from Silph ran past us and exited the building. Obviously in a hurry, I thought. From our location, the pokécentre was just down this corridor. So we went down there. I failed to notice a small humming noise coming from the waist where my pokéballs were kept. Stepping into the small room, I located the healing machines. Pokémon centers now didn't have that big a status, just a machine or two in a small room with seating and suitable entertainment. This one being Silph, there was space for at least 6 trainers and their pokémon. I reached for my master balls. They had all gone white. I picked up one, Mashu's ball I believe it was, and examined it. It was glowing a white color. Meg's were too.   
"Uh…Never seen balls do THIS before…" I exclaimed the obvious. Meg looked at me.   
"Something wrong here…" As she said that, the glow from the balls passed to me.   
"Um…Matt…That glow looks to be spreading…" Meg said. I looked down. It was going up my arm.   
"?! What is this?" I went to put the balls on the healing machine. Suddenly, everything went numb. Not being able to stand, I fell to the ground.   
"Ow…What in…?" My words were lost by the mental situation I found myself in. I knew then I had consciousness in all of my pokémon at this time. I was flooded with too many of their mental responses to the same situation, and it wasn't treating me very well. Meg looked concerned, "Shall I go get one of the doctors?" She wasn't paying attention to her own situation, which was becoming similar to mine. With a weak hand I pointed, before a surge of electricity threw me against the wall. That was obviously Mashu, but what was he doing? Why in the name of Moltres was this happening?? 

The electricity was building. I could sense Mashu trying to take control of the situation. But he had to get through the other 6 to do it, which was taking a while. Meg stood, looking at me, either fully in shock or just stood there, because she wasn't noticing the same thing happening to her. Finally the qualms stopped, Mashu and I were all I sensed active. I dragged myself to my feet, before walking carefully back to Meg.   
"What was that…?" Meg asked. I just looked blankly; I didn't know what it was. Just then I was unable to stand, I thought for a while. Mashu was fighting inside there, but why? He's fighting ME - He shouldn't do that! But this was different. He evidently had a purpose, something I didn't know about. The white glow brightened, as I went back up against the wall.   
"Again?" Meg asked, anxious. I nodded, and grabbed a nearby pipe, in case I was to get flung around again. This was taking its toll, I wouldn't be able to last for much more of this barrage. Then sparks started appearing around me. Electricity was surging. Through ME. And it was doing nothing…This was weird enough, I staggered around to the other side of the pipe, still holding it. Just then, I started to charge. Wait, though, I never had enough electric to charge naturally. Was Mashu giving it to me? It didn't seem like he was trying to…I continued charging up, not even trying to. Then for a split second, I saw what Mashu planned to do, I tried to shout out but it was too late…He flooded me with electricity, and even now it hurt. Trying to keep my mental resolve up, I resisted with everything I could. Meg was obviously peeking inside my head again, she looked like she couldn't make sense of it; and at that moment, Mashu's resolve seemed to become my own. I still couldn't move, though. I wondered what had happened to Mashu. I found myself wondering what was happening to me. It was as if I couldn't differentiate inside my head who was who…I looked back to Meg, who walked over, before stopping about 4 meters away, and facefaulting. I wondered what had happened now. I looked myself over. I stopped and gawped at my left hand. Fine dark tan fur was seeping over it. Just like a Raichu…I pieced everything together, as I turned back to Meg she was heading for the door, "I'll go get someone…This is way beyond anything I've seen…" She collapsed about halfway there, as she was probably going through the same process I was. I felt for her just then, I'd already done that, she wasn't going to like the end result. My perspective of vision changed then. I brought what was now a paw up to my ear. It semi grew in my hand, before splaying out near the end. I hunted for the small spiral off the end of it, twirling it on a now-present claw; I was assured that this was happening. It's then that I fainted. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
Several hours later 

I woke up, sluggishly. As I stirred, I heard steps, looking up when I opened my eyes, I saw 6 faces, none of which I knew.   
"He's awake, finally…" said one   
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Mashu…" said another, a Raichu. Or it seemed it.   
I sat up, "Y'know, I had this weird dream that…" My vision slipped into focus. 5 anthro pokémon and a cross were there. I bolted up. "?!"   
One of them, a Flareon, laughed. "Oy, Mattchu, you're supposed to know us…Some of us been training with you for years…"   
Mattchu? Mashu? I double-took, and then I looked down at myself.   
"Ok, so it wasn't a dream…" I walked over to a mirror.   
Looking me in the face was a Raichu. A 6 foot one. With my clothes on. No, wait…It was ME - Me with tanned fur, dark tanned paws, my usual red and yellow clothing, and a long thin tail that wavered around behind me. Large tan ears, black on them, jet black eyes that shone, a black nose, a thunder sac on each cheek. Black-clawed paws, still 5 fingered, dark tan, partly charged. Feet now paws, long ones with dark tan at the end, 3 toed, black claws that clicked as I stepped back from the mirror. On instinct, my thunder sacs sprung into life.   
"He's going to shock his reflection…" said another voice. I turned to the others. The one who said it, a Lugia/Persian cross anthro, looked away. The female Raichu anthro walked to me.   
"Welcome to the real world, Mattchu…" she said.   
"…………Damn, I'm confused." I admitted. I sat down on a bench. The raichumorph sat next to me.   
"Well, let's start. What's the last thing you remember?" she asked.   
The others went off to practice. I clocked my memory trying to remember.   
"…The start of…this, this…" I stuttered.   
"Ok. If you didn't guess, I'm Kichigai…"   
Kichigai - Meg's Raichu…We were getting somewhere…   
"And Meg?" I asked.   
"Both me. Except I carry Meg's consciousness. Kijutsu, the Lugia/Persian and Choukou the mew carry the consciousness of the pokémon of mine with that name." She had let the mine slip. They were no longer hers, of course.   
I started to think.   
"The Flareonmorph, Senkouhi…" I said. I looked around, spotting something that looked like a Jolteon, or an Eevee, or a Burakki…   
"That would be...uh...whose consciousness has he got?"   
"Hinoko - Your Jolteon…Used to be…"   
"And Myuutsu?"   
"I never figured it out…"   
That was strange. None of my pokémon apart from Mashu would be powerful enough to stand to him…So how did they gain total form over him? I thought for a while.   
"You also have a pendant, I see…" Kichigai pointed out. I looked down, sitting around my neck was a pendant. White one, lifting the tag up, it was a jeweled engraving of a Mew.   
"Mew…?" I wondered.   
"Mine is a Zapdos…Senkouhi has Mewtwo…Moltres and Articuno we are aware is out there somewhere."   
I thought again, "And what happened to everyone else?"   
"The same as what happened to us - But it's chaos out there…The master balls work on anthros - Everyone's fighting, catching each other, no-one knows why…"   
Senkouhi walked over.   
"Are we able to go out yet? I have to practice…" he asked.   
"Not unless you want to end up as someone else's energy…" she said.   
"I told you, Kichigai, the pendants prevent that happening…" Senkouhi looked obstinate. He then picked up his ball and tossed it at Choukou, the mewmorph. She slipped in it, but popped out moments later. She walked over to Senkouhi and slapped him.   
"What the hell are you trying to do?" Choukou questioned.   
"Make a living…" Senkouhi picked the ball up and tossed it at Hiryuu. The ball popped closed, and didn't reopen. Senkouhi just stared.   
"Come on you dumb Arcanine-Fearow…" Senkouhi muttered. The room fell silent. Senkouhi picked the ball up, it glowed, then faded. Senkouhi popped it open. "That is that…"   
"…Senkouhi…We may as well NOT be in a safe place if we're having our own caught by you…"   
"Well, SORRY…" Senkouhi tossed the ball at Kichigai. She used lightning speed and knocked it aside.   
"I'm warning you…" Kichigai was evidently getting annoyed now. Senkouhi just looked.   
"You won't do anything, because Mashu there would stop it…" Senkouhi said. I looked blank.   
"Don't ask ME to do stuff for you. You're digging the hole for yourself, not me…" I replied.   
Senkouhi looked distraught. "I still think we need to move from here…"   
"I know a place we could go…" Kichigai spoke. "I have a secluded place nearby. It's nice, safe, and we can plan a lot from there…"   
"To hell with hiding out, why don't we go kick some ass out in that lot?" Senkouhi was starting to annoy even me now. Kichigai turned to him, before replying, "You want to go DIE, that's PERFECTLY fine with me…"   
Senkouhi flicked his right paw downwards, sliding out the claws. "I'll be perfectly fine…You need to see how good I can fight?" Kichigai didn't deter from her position, "Do you really want to lose to me? Maybe it will teach you come and not have you go out there."   
I stood up, "We're not supposed to be fighting amongst ourselves here!"   
"Practice, that's all…Simply practice…" Senkouhi reassured me, as Kichigai headed for the door.   
"To the arena then, you want a fight, come and get it, Flash-San…" Kichigai slammed the door.   
Senkouhi followed her out. The others, and myself, followed on too. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

5) - The Fight - 23/09/06 (Still Day 1) 

And so, we proceeded to the arena. This was the one where not real long ago, I had been fighting for the gold…I had been me…I sighed as I entered, and I saw Senkouhi and Kichigai go into the arena. In the space of such a short time, such a lot of important things had happened…and now this. I was thinking maybe they shouldn't fight, but I couldn't stop it - I hadn't gained usage of my element yet, I didn't even know if I could use it…I felt sure I could though…I tried practicing, to produce something small - I got sparks but nothing that could aid the stoppage of this battle. I took my seat with the other 'morphs, namely Kijutsu, Hayai, and Choukou, who was glaring at Senkouhi as if she wanted to blow him of the face of the earth…Right then, I think Kichi shared that view. Senkouhi just looked to everyone, settling at me and giving me a hard look, because of his not being able to get me to be on his side. Then he settled at Choukou, turning away from her piercing eyes, with a look of hatred… 

"Hooray - Some action around this place for once." Senkouhi was rudely sarcastic. 

"Senkouhi…" Kichi had just about had it with him, "Just SHUT UP, and get ready to be beaten…" 

Kichi beckoned me over. I proceeded over, "Hai?"   
Kichi looked, "Matt, do you have any idea how I use Kichi's attacks?" - Why ask me? I didn't know...So I said, "I dunno Kichi...Does he?" Kichi looked solemn, "I damn well hope not..."   
I walked to Senkouhi. He gave me the same stern look. "You were a lot of help back there..."   
I replied, not losing face, "I can't stick up for you all the time - In fact, I've never had to...Cuz back when..."   
Senkouhi spoke up, "DON'T go 'back when..' with me...Back then I was under your command...I wasn't fully sentient, I didn't think fully myself...And now I see you were weak.."   
"Hah? Weak? If I was weak...then why was I here in the first place..?" I asked him.   
"You didn't do ANYTHING - It was the hard working no credit-given pokémon..." Senkouhi said.   
"I ALWAYS gave credit where it was due! Don't blame me for the system they use, I spent most of my time looking out for you lot!"   
"Yah, so you could get into a better world position in the Pokémon Leagues...A real trainer would..."   
"A REAL TRAINER WOULD MAKE SURE HIS POKÉMON WERE IN THE BEST PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SHAPE THEY COULD BE! JUST LIKE I DID!"   
I was getting bothered with him now. I could feel the tension mounting. Something had to give...   
Senkouhi moved a paw at blur-speed. I struggled to keep up, but before I knew it he had grabbed my tail.   
"And look...Of all of the pokémon you have, Mewtwo, Burakki, etc...You had to form with Mashu...Hey, you could have formed more with me, that would have made more sense..."   
This wasn't reasonable arguing. This was arrogance. Pure, plain, just hit me then. Was he really going to use this fight to prove his arrogance? He's trying to get us to part solo, I told that then. Suddenly I felt the dual-mind thing again. Mashu was being more then passive. That comment was directed at him, I felt he'd be justified in dealing with Senkouhi. So, I sat back inside myself...   
What I did next wasn't really believable for me at that point, but I got this bit verified by Kichi later. I whipped my tail from his grasp, whipped it around his neck, the lightning shape at the end locked it in place. I thrust a hind paw at his and shoved on the back of his head, crouching to match time with the falling flareon, before crouching one knee atop head, one paw on back, tail still around his neck tightening slowly. From my mouth flew various words in Raichu dialect, something that before now I hadn't been able to comprehend. Gaining help from Mashu, I discovered what I was saying - And the way that sentence sounds, you'd think I was stoned - It went crudely,   
So who's the inferior one now, eh Senkouhi? You never could beat me and you won't start just because I'm also Matt too - Though he isn't of us, he deserves the respect you gave me, even more so now I'm part of him too - You can either live with it and take your comments back or we can force it.. >>   
I...don't....*ug*....think...so....Mashu...*gack* >> Senkouhi's resolve was much stronger then any I'd ever seen. Pity he was using it in this sort of situation...   
As you wish, Baka-San... >> I had no chance to react, my thunder sacs were sparking away like there was no tomorrow, I surveyed Mashu as this was done, I found what he was doing and I tried copying inside here, but I had no control as of now. He thought to himself, and so me, { Patience, Matt...After this, the merge becomes more complete again, and you learn a bit more of the Raichu attacks... }   
Continuing from there, my tail began to surge with mass electrical energy. Senkouhi shouted out in pain, Mashu laughed, If THAT hurts, what happens when the electricity starts entering you? >> and to prove his point, it started to. Senkouhi's body drained it into the ground but the mere entering of it into his body was causing pain. All this had taken precisely 5 seconds, and then time started moving normally again. Kichi and the others ran over, and tried to separate Senkouhi and I, but Mashu was having none of it. Senkouhi just kept shouting throughout. { Damn it, he should have learned not to disobey his trainer by now... } Mashu answered quickly, { Matt. You aren't bound to him now, any more then I am. The world now is chaos, as you heard. It's each for themselves in the long run...He bothers you, shock him...Take pride in being Raichu...It works for me...} He laughed, I started trying to block my current thoughts from him. ~{But not for me...}~   
"Mattchu, WAKE UP IN THERE!" a voice called in, I jolted forward in my mind and I found myself in control again. Before I was wrenched off by Kichi and restrained.   
"What the hell was THAT?" Kichi asked me, Hayai by her keeping me restrained, Choukou over by Senkouhi.   
"Well, guess we CAN use elemental attacks after all..." That raichu glint was ever present in my eyes, she picked it up almost instantaneously.   
Senkouhi was heading towards the exit, "To be attacked by one of your own...I get the feeling I'm not wanted here..." Choukou headed towards me, Senkouhi picked up something from in the corridor. "Hey, Choukou, one thing..." Choukou turned to Senkouhi. A medium sized stone flew at lightning speed from the corridor, implanting itself, unluckily enough, in Choukou's eye, and at it's speed, it killed the eye, shattering it completely. She screamed, morbid, pitiful, sounding rather like the final scream...Which, in a way, it turned out to be. Senkouhi's master ball whizzed from his spot in the corridor and hit Choukou, who was ready to drop.   
"CHOUKOU!!" Kichi screamed in the general direction. Choukou gave up, and collapsed as the light from the ball enveloped her, sucking her into the ball, into the nothingness and eternity of it's destination, which was to be Senkouhi...The ball rolled backwards, Senkouhi stepped back in to pick it up, before making a half-hearted wave, and walking out. Kichigai just gawped. She ran to the spot where Choukou had once been, where only remained a puddle of blood, and the remains of a shattered eye. Kichigai took one look and fled towards the exit back to the pokécentre room. The others followed, except myself, I just sat and thought for a while, just sitting in the spectation stands...   
The same question kept popping up:   
{ Where did I go wrong with Senkouhi... } I was blaming myself...Why? Because it was my pokémon. That other voice popped up, Mashu, { HE'S NOT YOURS - Horrible as that was, it wasn't your fault... }   
I felt a paw on my shoulder. It was Kijutsu.   
"Hi...I was wondering why you have been sat here for so long..."   
I checked the time. Everyone else would be asleep, it was 3am...The fight would have taken place 7 hours ago...Even I needed rest now, Kijutsu more so...   
"Yeah - I'll be there in one min..." I replied.   
"Ok" She headed back to the doorway. I decided to leave the trace of Choukou, strange as it may seem...It was still the first day, Meg had lost 3 of her 6 pokémon, and been made a Raichumorph...A tribute? Hardly...But, in the current times, it was better then nothing at all...As I walked out, I found both Mashu and me thinking the same thing.   
{We'll get him...For Hiryuu...For Choukou...More importantly, for Kichi...} I sighed again. We were supposed to be the only ones not going around catching everything in sight...If this was the way our small society was going, I dreaded to think of what the outside would be like... 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
Well, there's my first day for you...As I sit here and write...I think about what has gone down today...As I consider what might have to be done about the danger that is Senkouhi, I listen. I still hear Choukou's scream...lingering in the darkness, niggling at my well-being, and making me wonder why Senkouhi was who he was, and why he had come from the change like this...He had walked out of his own accord. It made me wonder what else Senkouhi could do out there...I shall not sleep tonight. I keep thinking of the situation, and what else could happen. I was starting to put other people in the situation Choukou had been in, inside my head. I couldn't stop myself continuing to do so, and the mere doing so was getting really upsetting. Mashu was screaming at the back, STOP SUBJECTING YOURSELF TO THIS... >> as I sat motionless, thinking of Hayai, Kijutsu, Kichigai, or me, in that position. After several minutes of this, Mashu seized control and thundershocked himself. I flew back against a wall, hitting my head hard. I was knocked cold. I wrote this bit the next day...I can see why Mashu did it, but it proved: I didn't have total control of myself...I was probably going to need full control soon...I slept, dreamlessly... 


	2. Chapters 6-10: Conflict leads to complex...

  
(The fic continues o_O - Here, have chapters 6-10 of it..)   


Day 2 - 24/09/06 

6) - The Intruders 

The night went by peacefully. Strange, isn't it, considering I was made into a pokémorph the day before, and I saw one of Kichigai's pokémon bloodily disfigured but captured. I heard no distinct problems during the night, so naturally we assumed everything was okay. Err...I assumed everything was ok. Must remember that Mashu and myself are not separate... 

I awoke with the dawn. That, and the fact some Doduo-morphs in the nearby vicinity were bawling their heads off. I felt like throwing a shoe at it...Except it probably wasn't close enough to be in range. So much the pity... 

After becoming reoriented again, I went for a small walk around. Checking in on the others, who were still asleep, resisting Mashu shouting GET UP! >>, and leaving them at peace, { Mashu, it's 5am...I would assume that they want to sleep until a normal time... } Fine... >> Mashu agreed, and I continued walking around. Now that I had gotten somewhat used to who I was, and my situation, and the fact I was a 6 foot tall electric mouse (That part was easy - Just think Grimer...You know who is better off...) - So Mashu wasn't needing to do as much.   
Not bad...Considering it took me years to learn this... >>   
{ I'm still thinking of how dumb this must be - To have a conversation with yourself. }   
You're more interesting to talk to then I am... >>   
{ Err.....I AM you.... }   
That was the hardest part. Both Mashu and myself knew we couldn't go on living two minds out in the same body. Something had to give...Though, from that subject just then, my adept ears picked up a noise from outside. I headed for the corridor, and tracked towards the entrance. The entrance had been locked, chained, because we didn't want anyone getting in here, unless someone was trying to break in...My thunder sacs sparked into life at the mere thought. I calmed myself, before peeking around the next corner towards the entranceway. I could hear fidgeting with the lock, before I heard a clunk. I dropped the lights, the fact that there were no windows in this part of the corridor made lying in wait that much easier. 

Sure enough, from the doorway entered two morphs. One, a Butterfree morph, about 4'10 in height, suggesting about 11 or 12 in age; purple with a normal face, though red eyes, long turquoise hair, and a couple of long black antennae that hung loosely to either side of her head. Her arms were purple, up to the hands, which were bluish. Same blue as her feet, though normal shape and size, they had no toes. Detracting from the otherwise routine features would be the wings, taller then the morph herself, they were. They sparkled with a white, faintly silvery resonance, vibrating ever so slightly forwards and backwards. Other then this, she had on a normal white T-shirt and some light-blue pants. 

The other one, being Squirtle-morphed, of the same height roughly, he looked slightly younger though. He was blue; more pokémon-like face then the other, with short, almost nonexistent, black hair. Two hands showed, both blue. His feet-paws were fully squirtle, blue, three almost-toes, and from the back came a reasonably small blue coiled tail. I was guessing the shell was under that yellow top and red trousers that he had on. He also had a cap on. One of those "Official Pokémon League" cap things. Like the sort Ash wore. Or, rather the sort he used to wear. Anyways... 

"Do we really have to be in here, Bill?" the femme Butterfree'morph asked, quietly...Strange, I'd have thought with she being the older, she'd have brought him...   
"Yes Nikita, we do...I'm sure it's this place that caused all this, most of the unknown machinery back at the town has been destroyed - Leaving this place untouched and locked..." Smart, for a 9 year old...Which made me wonder; How widespread was this exactly? Was it this place that caused it? If so, does that mean there's normality out there? I wondered these, before snapping back to the situation at hand, and waiting...   
"Well, as you say - You're the 17 year old..." She sniggered. I nearly fell over. 17 at that height? Must have been a baby Squirtle - That managed to overcome him by that much? It was enough for me to snigger too. She stopped, and turned towards the back, where I was hidden.   
"There's...someone else here..." She squeaked this part. Bill turned to her.   
"It's probably just the wind - Or at most, a Rattata...This place was locked, remember...?"   
Well, kiddies, I don't LOOK like the wind...And I'm definitely not a Ratta... >> Mashu again. Good job they couldn't hear him. I, or possibly Mashu - Who was me, so still I, decided to play possum with them now. I crouched, cocked my head back, and went for the loudest, most painful-sounding injured Raichu cry I could make. It echoed through the corridor, a shrill, piercing scream - I'm confident I heard a window somewhere shatter...   
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIII!!" I'm sure Kichigai had been woken up by this, if not half of the dead pokémon in existence. The Butterfree'morph cowered.   
"WHATTHEHELLWASTHATBILLIREALLYTHINKWESHOULDGETOUTOFHERE..." Bill shook her.   
"Calm Nikita...What did you just say?"   
She calmed slightly, "What the hell was that, Bill - I really think we should get out of here..."   
He laughed, "Don't be daft...Between us two, we should be able to stop anything from a young injured Raichu...And if he's friendly, we can heal him, and he be grateful - And we get Raichu..."   
Mwahaha...Well, possum certainly worked...And both weak against us too...I think you going to clean up here... >> Mashu's thought rang true in my head. Did I really want to "clean up" I thought...   
{ Why would we want to do that...They're just kids... } I pleaded a case...   
DAMNIT, WHAT SORT OF RUTHLESS RAICHU SON OF A BITCH ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE... >> Mashu was clearly angry...Why?   
{ The sort that thinks taking young morph's lives is wrong... }   
I should have twinned with Senkouhi...Damn you...Well, if you won't do it, then I shall have to... >> He started fighting again. I involuntarily stood up.   
{ What are you doing...? } I fought back for control but he kept it out of my grasp.   
Ah, ah, ah...No control for you, Matt... >> He sat and cried again. It sounded clearly better then mine, but wasn't as loud...   
"There it is again! I think we should help it..." The Butterfree'morph was insistent.   
"Aw....Fine, do what you will...Remember, we are WEAK against electricity, so any false moves from him and you come back here...Pronto - Got it?" Bill said, which indicated he was willing to send a girl in while he stayed out there. I saw why that baby Squirtle had taken him so easily...Suddenly, she was peeking around the corner.   
"Yoo-hoo, Rai...Erg..." She noticed me. Mashu got up.   
Now you see how a REAL Raichu works in this situation...Butterfree - Type Flying/Poison - Weak to me... >>   
{ ...Any respect I had for you just disappeared, Mashu... }   
You don't have to respect me - Just watch... >>   
The Butterfree'morph took one step back.   
"Err....Bill...It isn't quite the cute Raichu we were hoping..." She turned and fled back to Bill. Mashu, eyes a profuse red, walked out into the open.   
"Well, kiddies..." He threw his paws forward. "Time to meet your maker, eh?"   
"Err..." The two young morphs looked at Mashu, then each other.   
"Err...Best thing to do?" Nikita asked...   
"Do ya have to ask?" Bill said.   
The two turned and fled for the door. Mashu's cheeks sparked up something fierce before two explosions of lightning fled from his paws, one colliding with each morph, sending them down, sprawling. Mashu hesitated...   
Damn...This is powerful... >> As Mashu hesitated, Bill jumped up and slipped out the door.   
"Damn it..." Mashu looked on, nonplussed, before turning to the Butterfree'morph still sprawled. Bill stood outside, thinking, before he fled. Nikita went to get up, but was very weak. She tried to slip down the opposite corridor, across the ground, but was sent flying into the side walls by another quick thundershock. She spat out blood and a tooth. "Uhm...Bill, HELP!" But Bill was out of earshot...   
{ Well, I see why he was assumed mostly by a baby Squirtle... } I thought.   
Well, I think he was wise. I could have had them both...But I only got one...Had he stayed to fight, I would have had them both... >>   
{ Come to think of it, WHY IN MOLTRES' NAME DO YOU WANT A KID? }   
Every little helps... >>   
I understood that. But this? This was just...unfair...   
"Please....no...." Nikita was dazed. Mashu, however, was on a roll.   
"Mercy...hah...I now have to re-chain that door...That in itself deserves this - But mercy? No good asking me, you wouldn't get any from those out there..."   
{ Be thankful it was Mashu and not Senkouhi... } I thought.   
Senkouhi wouldn't have tried playing possum...But he would have killed them both with a fire blast in place of the thundershock... >>   
Mashu walked to the Butterfree'morph and gripped the top of her head. Digging his claws in slightly, small droplets of blood fell.   
"Aaa - Dun pull it off!" She screamed.   
{ You WOULDN'T... } I looked on in moot horror...   
No, I wouldn't... >> Mashu knew what he was doing.   
"Relax, kid...Course I wouldn't..." Mashu sounded gentle. I wondered what he was up to...Nikita breathed a sigh of relief. Mashu then started cheek-sparking again, and the Butterfree'morph started glowing with electricity. Thunder Swap...However, Mashu damn knew that it couldn't hold it. Letting go, he stepped back. The Butterfree'morph tried vainly to escape, running forward while the death blood that was the electricity surged through her. She mistakenly tried to fly to gain speed. At this time, it wasn't just her wings that were vibrating... 

She let out a scream to chill the heart before she fell. She landed back on the floor, shook violently several times, before laying still, the glow fading. Blood poured from her nose and mouth.   
Induced fibrillation caused by over-intense blood pressure, but more importantly, 150,000 volts of pure Raichu electric... >>   
{ You gave her a heart attack...You sad individual... }   
Oh, blah. Remember, I AM YOU. Try explaining any different to Kichi... >>   
I had control again. I looked at the situation clearer, before dropping to the ground.   
"..."   
But I knew Kichi could not see her like this, not after Senkouhi and Choukou...I shuddered, before pulling out the master ball, and tossing it at the dead morph. It glowed before being sucked in, easily. I picked it up, it glowed slightly. I took in the energy. A picture flashed in front of my eyes. It was her view of the situation...Before eternal blackness...The thought was just too much after watching that, I collapsed.   
{ Damn it, Matt - You gotta toughen up...Ya wuss... } 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Day 4 - 26/09/06 

7) - The Awakening 

I slept the next 2 days. The whole thing of Day 2 was a large shock on my subconscious. I eventually awoke, I was in bed. It was late night, and Kichi was asleep on a chair beside. I checked a clock. It was 3am.   
{ If I kill myself now, it will save them having to watch... } I thought.   
Hey, hey, HEY - What you going on about now? >> Mashu sounded like he was being strangled.   
{ You killed someone. So officially, I did. And I can't live with myself for that. So I must kill myself. Sword through the head seems fitting. Wonder where I can find a sword at this time of night... }   
OI - You aren't killing me - Go back to bed... >>   
{ So much the better I do get you... } My reasoning at 3am was obviously off. But I didn't care, I just wanted Mashu dead. Even at the cost of me.   
Whoa...Man, you've lost it...But you're not losing me... >> Mashu tried to gain control. I was mentally locked, and he couldn't get past it.   
{ You can't beat me, Mashu...I shall always win, whatever I do - And this is my proof - I shall die knowing many more have been spared from me - So I shall be happy... }   
I walked out into the arena. Picking up a chair from the spectator area, I ripped off one of the legs. The point at the end of the shard of metal seemed adequate enough.   
You're serious...MAN, YOU'RE GONNA TOP YOURSELF! AND ME! DON'T DO IT... >>   
{ Why not - You had no quarrels when that girl - And yet you ignored mercy cries from a girl you didn't know, before electrocuting her to a heart attack...Well, no more... }   
Mashu fell silent. His actions, his death...   
Well then...It looks like I shall have to deal with you properly... >> He tried to seize control again, but this was powerful. I dropped to one knee.   
{ You can't win......You shall die for what you have done...... }   
............... >> He tried frantically. The leg dropped to the floor. I strained against him, stumbling back into the arena.   
{ Fine...What better way for a Raichu to die...then by electrocution...}   
You can't kill a Raichu by electrocution - That would take, like, lightning at 500,000 volts... >>   
{ I reckon I could generate twice that...Want to try? }   
You're insane... >>   
{ Wrong - YOU ARE ME - So you're insane too - And I knew that much... }   
His fight against me was dwindling. I strengthened. Pulling some writing implements from my trouser pocket, I scrawled out a note, tensely... 

To Kichi, Hayai, Kijutsu - For the memory of Choukou...   
Also to anyone that cared for Nikita...   
I don't deserve to be alive. I cause no greater good then to kill a young female pokemorph for no reason. This was done 2 days ago. Even if it WAS Mashu, he is me and so I must take his blame. Remember this: It wasn't my fault, I did not deserve to be in this position. Neither did the world. Neither did the femme. All the acts are coincidence, and they must be played out as such.   
I am also at fault for Senkouhi. He is also me, though I had no direct bearing on his actions. But for Nikita, for Choukou, and for any other that would come into the firing line of Mashu, I speak this.   
I lived without a cause, I died without a cause. I have caused 2 deaths in 4 days and who knows what Senkouhi has done, and is planning right now - For him I must bear the scars...   
Kichi, Hayai, Kijutsu   
For the short time I was in your acquaintance, I was not unhappy. I bid thee farewell, and ask that Hayai will not go the same way. Senkouhi needs to be stopped, for me and the others...I leave that as my wish... 

And one last thing.   
It takes a bad person to kill, it takes a good person to kill himself, but it takes a crazy person to do both. 

In taking myself I ask forgiveness...I expect none, but then, it rightly deserves none...   
Mattchu 

Aw - It brings tears to your eyes...And mine...But you're not serious... >>   
{ I'm deadly serious... }   
The pun was a death blow. Mashu snapped.   
Over my dead body...Ok, NOT so - Just, I'm gonna stop you... >>   
I started charging up, { This is the way it has to be... }   
Mashu released what I charged, You're NOT... >>   
I charged again, { It must be... }   
Mashu did nothing, in fact, he started charging us up too.   
Well then, guess I'm going to have to KO you... >> Mashu said.   
{ No - You won't have control over the release this time... }   
He kept charging. The air around started to sift in and out, the world was spinning, endlessly, I was fighting with myself inside my head, as the electricity built, it formed a glow. I heard lightning overhead.   
{ So much attempt to charge - Lightning making the air around charged - It's causing a storm... }   
I can use that... >> Mashu began to charge up more. Adding to my charge. As such, able to release whenever necessary...But I knew what I should do...   
The glow began to spread through the arena. Thunder started sounding from above. The sky flashed with the surges of electricity appearing in the sky. None so as the show going on inside the arena. Mashu started emitting large thunderbolts. They drained the voltage by hardly a drop. Various things were scattered around the arena, including the chairs, they were blasted back.   
{ Storm - Negative energy, pressure, swirling... - It's creating a mini-storm inside the building... }   
That'll be nice... >>   
I heard voices, and turned to the entrance. Kichi was standing there, wondering, looking at me awake.   
"Mattchu...." Kichi uttered.   
"KICHI, LEAVE NOW..." I shouted back. I dropped to the floor. Thunderbolts were appearing, two a second, striking in random directions.   
"What's...happening...?" Kichi was hit by a bolt, and knocked off-balance slightly.   
"Just get everyone OUT..." I hollered back, strained to my thoughts. Lightning struck the building. The lights flickered before staying on. "Just evacuate the others..."   
"What about you?" she asked.   
"Don't bother about me...I shall get what is due to be..." I said. She thought that meant I would be safe, evidently. She turned and proceeded to waking everyone up.   
"Fearful for their safety" Damn it, you make me sick... >>   
{ At least I have some sort of emotion - Unlike you... }   
YOU ARE ME, WE'VE BEEN THROUGH THIS... >>   
{ No...I'm not you...I'm just fated to be trapped in this accursed body with you... }   
The air was starting to spin. To me, this looked like an enhanced Thunder Vortex...Constant out-sparks of several meters in length struck at the edges of the room, and at the ceiling...The weak point. Lightning was striking the building every few seconds now, and the lights blew out. I was showered with glass, but it didn't matter. I crouched. My tail stuck into the air.   
{ And so...From the power I gain of being part Raichu - It shall lead to the killer's demise...For one who kills a killer is but a hero - And one who kills himself who is the killer, more so... }   
The ceiling broke through. Lightning struck the tail, there for that very purpose. The enriched energy filled my veins and coursed around my body like wildfire. The lightning was being emitted in waves now. So there were sparks, as a thundershock. Bolts from a thunderbolt. Thunderbolts from the clouds, as per thunder. Waves of lightning, as thunder wave. I tried to release, but could not. Mashu was unmoving. He'd turned this into an attack...But which one? I kept charging, not able to release. It would release on the onslaught. I hope Kichi and the others made it out okay...   
I stood and raised my paws into the air, on impulse. Two lightning bolts, almost on cue, struck through the ceiling and impacted with my paws. More energy coursed through me, I was lifted into the air by the thunder waves, and held there. The stadium walls developed cracks in them. This attack was trying to expand. It had to be free of the building, as I had to be free of my guilt...   
............... >> Mashu was still unspeaking.   
{ And so - I call forth the attack for the end of days...Let it be known it was done as a suicide attack... } But then, I realized. I had no clue whether I was going to get affected at all. The thunder was carrying my body around but it wasn't hurting it. The cracks in the walls started to give way, and started shaking. Parts of the roof were collapsing. Some impulse compelled me to utter the first syllable of the typical cry, "RAAAAAAIIII...!" But this was different...It was with authority...I collected as much of the flying energy as I could in the space, before I stretched out into he air, as in slow motion, "CHUUUU..." 

Suddenly, my stocks were released. Outwards. Huge waves shook the building to its foundations, as hundreds of bolts struck at every side of the building, and the ceiling. I fell to the floor, drained. I could only hope the building would finish the job...Though it simply gave up, and exploded. Smoke filled the air, and several bits over my head collapsed in, never hitting target. Around me was a sphere of energy, it looked electric. The bits were being vaporized as they hit it. 

{ Mashu...Made it an attack...You clever bastard... } That was the last thing I thought, before the main part of the building gave way, and the draining got to me and sent me into forced unconsciousness. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

And that's all I know of that day...Not that it isn't much, of course...But let's move on... 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Day 5 - 27/09/06 

8) - The Continuing 

I awoke, in a bed someplace. As my eyes got accustomed to not being shut, I noticed it was dark, and I couldn't tell where I was. I hopped out of bed, and went looking around. It didn't seem like a room, because I was just able to walk and walk and walk, until I couldn't find the bed any more, and I was just walking in blackness... 

Walking...Endlessly...I was only doing it for about 10 minutes, I was surprised I didn't walk into anything...Then I saw it, a light just ahead, from an undetermined source. I walked to it, stopped, and looked around. Walking for no reason was tiring, I raised a hand to my brow. It caught my eye. No claws, no fur...I stopped, and did a quick check-around. I was me again...I had nothing on me, except the pendant. I took it well, almost passing out, and then tried to figure out where I was. I checked my watch. That I missed on the check-around. Sat, 23 Sep 2006 - 3:12am...Early morning on the day I was due to face Meg - The day it all happened... 

Don't act too surprised, Matt - This isn't reality you know... >> I spun round. Mashu was there, walking from nowhere, he came into the light, and hopped up onto my head.   
Now, while I can talk to you properly, I shall explain my actions over the past few days. You are fully aware of Senkouhi, the fact right now he's out there, catching pokémon, adding their power to his own...You know it's your job to do cleanup duty on him...but you're not powerful enough. Mattchu isn't. You NEED to do this, Matt...You wouldn't, though...So I have to step in. You think I wanted to do it like that? That was just sick - I'd rather have done it normally - But I had to get it through to YOU how important this was...I think I managed that too well...I didn't think you'd try kill us...I mean, dude...One kid-morph... >>   
{ I see your point...But I mean, to me, like that...It's not humane... }   
Biggest part of that word is human, Matt -Remember, Mattchu doesn't qualify for that any more...You do yourself, as you - Barely...That's where the problem arises. No-one else is keeping reserved. It's all for themselves out there - You have to live with it...I do, Senkouhi does... >>   
{ Senkouhi is evil though...He could live with killing himself, i.e. me...And he would do, too... }   
You're not him any more - You are not indebted to him. He is not indebted to you. YOU ARE MATTCHU. As am I - You will live with it or you'll end up lining someone's master ball... >> 

A voice poked up from behind me, [ I think not...Otherwise, I wouldn't be much good, now would I? ]   
I spun around, Mashu did too. Floating in the midst was a white Mew, female, cropped brown hair, amethyst eyes, and wearing a white dress. She was lit up with a white aura that over-shone the light I was in, from wherever it came from anyway. 

Mashu was the first to speak, Who exactly would you be? >>   
She responded, [ I am called Sadame. I am the guardian of the Pendant which you possess. ]   
What is the deal with these pendants anyway? I been trying to figure it out... >> Mashu asked..   
{ Yeah...I mean, the immediate group has 2...We know where 3 are...How many are there, if there are more then 5, that is...? }   
[ No, there are only 5...They were given to the 5 strongest morphs after the accident... ]   
You're telling me...that this was an ACCIDENT? Who did it? >>   
[ Two Silph scientists, Rebecca Felton and Derek Taylor... ] 

I stopped her, { Rebecca...She was the gym leader back at the local gym...Where I started my training... }   
Mashu thought, Rebecca, as in Rebecca *You have to do EVERYTHING I say* Felton? >>   
{ When did she say that? }   
Back when I was a pika...Before you started training...About 7 years ago...I was but young... >>   
[ The very same...I can tell you no more, it would interfere with what shall happen in the future... ] 

Even with our ignorance to this fact, we gathered that changing the future wouldn't be a good thing... 

{ Continue - About the pendants... }   
[ Certainly. There are indeed 5 pendants; Mew, Mewtwo, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. Each has a guardian, they preside over the pendant and they who possess it. Delegated to that were myself and my sisters, known as the Shukuen Sisters...Sadame, Jitsu, Omoi, Jinkei, and Tetsu...I guard this Mew pendant, Tetsu has the Mewtwo pendant, Jinkei the Articuno pendant, Jitsu the Zapdos pendant, and Omoi the Moltres pendant. ]   
And Senkouhi got one...That was utterly dim, you realize... >>   
[ Well, we couldn't be biased just because Senkouhi is evil - He is still one of the 5 strongest...And besides, there are 4 good, you should have no problem in taking him out... ]   
That's what I trying to explain to Mr. Nice down there... >>   
{ Oi - Just because I won't kill in cold blood... }   
[ Don't argue you two...Now, I'll continue...Our names in English are Destiny, Faith, Hope, Charity, and Peace...So you would believe. But they can be translated into different meanings...This has impact on our personalities...While we guard the pendants, we hold to the alignment of the one who wears them...But we are akin to break alignment if a personality conflict arises...So we are effectively not trustworthy unless you can work out the alter meanings... ]   
{ And you are telling us this because... }   
[ To be honest, I'd rather not tell you - But if I didn't then you'd rely on me too much - The others would too - They are all having this same conversation, at this same moment...Or rather, 3 of us are. The other 2 pendants have not been delegated to anyone, and if they have then they haven't been found... ] 

She hesitated for a second, thinking about something, before continuing, [ These pokemorphs...They are not of an alignment yet...Until such time as their paths are decided, they shall not possess the pendant...And one isn't even with that who it should be. The Articuno pendant is...Well, it's fated to become destroyed...along with one of my sisters... ]   
{ Isn't there anything we can do...? }   
[ ...I control fate, basically...But I won't bear to see one of my sisters destroyed - So I will reveal the location of it to you. It is being held inside a Silph facility, by Articuno himself...You have 3 days before it shall be found and wind up in the possession of someone else... ]   
Who? And how exactly is there still order within Silph? I mean, pokemorphs are running around catching each other still... >>   
[ It is not so any more. The source of it all was the Silph complex where you were situated - You destroyed it, and the balls ceased to function on morphs any more...But take note. They work on normal pokémon - And in this day, the psi ability to de-anthroize is held...The few that hold it are possibly the greatest threat to the new civilization...They are usually the crossbreed morphs...This is not always so... ]   
{ It seems like you have told a lot of information you shouldn't have... } I said.   
[ You would find this out anyway. It saves you time to do it now...And it is now within your grasp to save my sister...You are not required to do it, and I won't be able to hold a grudge should you choose not to... ]   
I'm in... >>   
{ Me too...}   
[ In 3 days, 30th September, the Legendary ones will be forced to cross-morphicize...It is then the pendant will be discovered. Only you know about this. So it must stay. The others shall come, their destiny lies in parallel with yours... ]   
{ Anything else we need to know about..? }   
[ There's lots more you need to know about...But I can say no more. I wish you good luck on this, and I thank you...I should do this myself but my place is here... ]   
No problem...We'll take care of it, right Matt? >>   
{ Right Mashu... } 

She turned to walk away, before turning back, [ One last thing...I was watching with you and your arguments...I feel you cannot succeed divided as you are...I decide therefore that you shall become one in mind as well as body...Take a few minutes, this may well be the last time you are separate again... ] 

This took some time to clock through, Mashu spoke first, Well...It's been fun...It isn't a goodbye, but instead of me with my feelings, it shall be us... >>   
{ .....You don't have to put up with me any more.... }   
You have to put up with yourself now...Remember, I don't go, I merely pass everything that is me, over to you... >>   
{ It's now or never, Sadame... } I turned back to the Mew. I wasn't willing to carry the conversation on... 

She threw up two paws, and the area started to shine a bright white. I saw nothing except whiteness, then it dissipated. I looked down. I was Mattchu again, and this time it was mind and body; it was for good... 

[ And now you must wake...Sayonara, Mattchu - Until we meet again, my power rests with you when you shall need it... ] 

I was flooded with memories - Everything Mashu ever saw, everything he had perceived...What he had done, gone through, his views on what he had done over his life...And his last thought, intent that I should get it, directed at me..   
.   
And now you really are me...Forever...Don't let the memory of us down...Overcome Senkouhi...As only we, as Mattchu the Rai'morph, can... >> 

That was the last thing I knew of...I shed a tear, before I walked back off into the darkness, my resolve refreshed and strengthened...And everything went dark just then... 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

9) - The Return of Society - 27/09/06 (Still Day 5) 

I awoke, to the view of a white ceiling. Sitting up, I was in a bed, in a room that looked like one of those private hospital rooms. Not just because it was one, of course...It was a spacious room, bed in middle with a table/chair arrangement down the room, bedside cabinet where some of my stuff was, lamp, one exit down the room, and an unusual placement of a camera in the far ceiling corner of the room. Probably just to check if anything happened in the room. 

After reorienting myself, getting my strength back, and stopping feeling tired, I hopped up, still wearing the clothes from 5 days ago, albeit ripped, looking slightly worn. I decided then I needed a new wardrobe. But first, I needed to find the others...   
I walked to the door and tried it. It was locked. Strange, I thought...I checked the time. It was 1pm. It shouldn't have been locked at this time of day...I went back to the bed, sat down, and thought for a while, before walking around the room, looking for anything that could give me a sign as to where I was and why the door was locked. 

A few minutes later, the door opened, Kichigai, Kijutsu, and Hayai walked back in.   
"You're OK...Good job, too...What was that about anyway - First you sleep through 2 days and then you blow up the entire building...Did I miss something?" Kichigai had every right to be puzzled.   
"Nah - That was...erm...practice, and...uhm...I couldn't get the energy away any other way, so I blew the building...Hope no-one minded..."   
"Everyone's pleased about it...Now the balls won't work on morphs because the source of the electromagnetic waves being broadcast has been decimated...It was in the building...Upper floor...The thing which messed with the whole system of how the master balls worked, and we don't think it was accidental either…" Hayai had this down to a tee.   
"Yeah...I know..." I slipped that out, "Err...Yeah, that's good..."   
"Something wrong?" Kichigai asked, sending the other two off to the coke machine with a twenty-dollar bill.   
"You have a weird dream last night? Something with a Zapdos in it...?"   
Kichigai fell silent, "How do you know about that..."   
"I had a similar one...And it's about these pendants...What I know, you know, and I was asked to help save the Articuno pendant...It rests with the real Articuno, who is in a Silph facility somewhere..."   
"Hai...That would most probably be the main one, in Miami...But that thing is protected very well..."   
"I think we could just walk in...Remember, they're all morphs and they may not have things back to full security yet...If we hurry then we could probably get in without a hitch..."   
"This is important...Why?" Kichigai wondered...   
"Simple. The head of Silph may end up with it...Whether that's good or bad, I don't know - But I'm not willing to risk another Senkouhi-like morph running around..."   
"We shall set off today...After we stock up, of course...We can get there in short time but we need food and stuff..."   
"Okay..." 

Kijutsu and Hayai came back.   
"Sodas all around.." Hayai dumped 4 on the table, and I drank, considering I hadn't eaten or drank for 3 days...   
Kichigai examined the efforts for clothes I still had on, "I think part of out stocking up will be getting you a new wardrobe..."   
Mattchu smirked, "I thought that's all it was going to be..."   
"Hehehe...There's more important things to get, of course..."   
"There is?" Arrogance was obvious here. I put it down to a Mashu trait, and Kichigai laughed.   
"You want to starve instead?"   
"Happily, if it means I don't have to keep wearing ripped stuff..." 

We got up and headed out. Sadame was right; Mashu traits inside my personality was aiding things...And I wasn't having to argue now...   


Several hours later, and everyone was back at Mattchu's room that he got out when he came here in the first place. Everyone's clothing was looking outdated, so taking advantage of the newly-reformed society, everyone had splashed out on stuff for little cost. And, because I haven't written any proper descriptions of them yet, I'll do that...   
  


Kijutsu Oshidamaru   
Type: Persian/Lugia Cross-anthro 

How to start this - Picture a regular Persian morph, if there is such a thing. Over the front paws come two white wings, the paws and arms are still there but at the back is this fine array of white feathers...The face, Persian to the most degree, vertical slit pupils, whiskers, two small jutting canine teeth (To call them canine teeth on a feline...Hn...). The difference is in the ears, they point backwards and are tipped black. She has white fur, except the Persian tail, which is the normal yellow. Claws protrude from her 4 paws, all Persian, yellow/white fur. The trip around the clothes places gave her an embroidered cyan blue cardigan, a lucid white blouse that showed nothing, and an ankle-drop light blue dress.   
  


"Very nice..." Hayai commented.   
"Hn...Good...Like blue?" Typical me comment.   
"Looks like a school uniform to me..." Kichigai joked.   
"Well, I like it." Kijutsu's voice was shrill, but suprisingly mature. "This be fine..." 

Kijutsu shoved Hayai into the next changing room, "Let's see what you look like in those, eh?"   
Hayai didn't protest, as we waited outside.   
  


Hayai Mujitsu   
Type: Jolteon/Eevee/Burakki Cross-anthro 

Hayai. The personification of innocence in a morph. Or it is such he would have you believe. The clothing he wore out of the cubicle made no difference. Hayai had typical clawed paws, 4 of them, black at the ends and alternating yellow and brown just above that. He had an Eevee-like tail, black and brown, and two Burakki ears, tipped black, brown and gold yellow spiraling off them. Very Eevee like face, and his yellow sweatshirt didn't cut it with his Jolteon spikes...   
He also had on a pair of black trousers. Just ordinary, with a hole for the tail...   
  


Kijutsu looked at the size of the hole, and then the size of the tail... 

"How EXACTLY did you get THAT huge thing into there?" Kijutsu asked.   
"Err - It's split from the top to the hole - Held together by a zip with a velcro fold over strap."   
"Oh, okay.." Kijutsu looked back at her coiled Persian tail. 

I stepped into the next cubicle thing, "Okie...Back in a sec..."   
  


Mattchu Tatakai-Yamuwoezu (And I'm shortening that to Raisan...I wanted Raimei...)   
Type: Anthro Raichu 

~Kichigai here, I'm not letting him describe himself, we'd be here all night, so I'm doing it for him. Nyaahaa...~   
He moved the curtain aside, it gave a slight chink as it did. The three of us turned to where the sound had come from, the cubicle that Mattchu had gone in 2 minutes before...   
The male raichu stood, his 6' ever present, mid-length brown hair that fell over his right eye in anime-like ways. He had two raichu ears, slightly larger, dark tan atop with yellow below, a black spiral hanging down replacing what would be the ear lobe, pretty average raichu face, black button-type nose, the two yellow dots, symbols of the ever-powerful raichu electricity which constantly coursed through him, and he was smiling. Pleasant surprise, seeing what it had been like before. He had on this nice light orange top, full sleeved, white lightning striping the outside arm, around the cuffs, one large one around the waistline, and around the collar. Around the back, three black stripes along each elbow and two around the mid-back area. From the sleeves, two paws emerged, black/brown claws and dark tan in color. This started to become lighter as it disappeared. There was a rip in one of the cuffs, and it led me to believe that he'd caught a claw on it...Or all 5 of them by the extent of the cuts...   
Moving down, his trousers were yellow, with the lightning pattern on each outer leg again, around the ankles and the waist again. Two black stripes were also around near the ankle, much as the normal raichu markings. His back paws were dark tan at the end, the merging of colors to the normal orange-tan of the species was set in a curve pattern and clearly visible on the paw. Each paw was three-toed and had claws, same color as those in the paws.   
The clothes were nice, but still one thing stood out. His eyes. Before the morph, they were a piercing green-blue, that touched the soul...After it, they were the same, but the fact his eyeballs were now black to compensate for the Raichu eyes that were all black anyway, the iris seemed to glow with a resonant blue. It looked quite relaxing, in fact. It still pierced, but the effect of it was not one of angst, but of solace...And inside those, two single yellow dots for pupils. These seemed to be constantly sparking, and every so often, any other 'chu could pick up on that single dot and tell what he was feeling and thinking...IT was a form of body language...But when something was about to happen, everyone knew about it, the infamous, "raichu glint" and the next thing you know, something happened and you're left wondering how right that glint really is...   
~This has been a Kichigai moment...Brought to you, by me. Heehee...And now, back to your regularly scheduled Mattchu...~   
  


"Well...Comments?" I was pressing for them...   
"Looks great...Been delving in the Pikachu section I see..." Kichi pointed out the yellow trousers, more suited to a pika, but they looked good on me anyway, I thought.   
"Nice...The rip adds an effect too..."Hayai pointed out the cuff rip.   
"Err...heh...That was an accident, by me...It's not supposed to look like that..."   
"You put them on for the first time and you ripped them...Hehe..." Kichigai was laughing. "If I did that with my selection, I'd hit myself...And if anyone of you did, I'd bite your head off..."   
"Seriously?"   
"Hai...You dun know how nice this looks..." Kichigai hopped into a cubicle, "Be out in a sec.."   
  


Kichigai Raimei (want surname...)   
Type: Raichu Anthro 

Kichigai stepped from the cubicle moments later. I turned around to look, and nearly fell backwards...   
She was clothed in this wonderfully made Japanese kimono, a silky orange/brown material, which shone in the light like silver, the reason why was inexplicable...Gold spirals of thread wove down the sleeves and across the outer edges of the clothing, the back of the sleeves themselves hung down, almost to the floor, in the traditional style...The thread was woven to the bottom of the long front...It was tied with a similarly-colored sash, just a thin one..   
The look was perfect coupled with the clothing. she stood at 5'9, her ears hung back, same as mine, except lighter in color, light tan at the top with a white/yellow below. She had blue hair, which hung in front of her eyes, in bangs, small black nose and a grin at seeing our reactions to her clothing. She also had clear-brown eyes, a piercing look she gave, but gentle at the best of times...Paws, as mine, tan outer edge, lighter as it swirled inside the kimono, claws brown. Same with the feet-paws, generously sized and mostly masked by the front of the clothing. Her pendant showed on the outside too, it gleamed in the light, like the whole thing did.   
  


"...wow...Where in this store did you find that?" I wondered. It wasn't a really expensive place, and they didn't have a Jap clothing section neither...   
"It's amazing what you can make with a little free time...Heehee..." Kichigai looked pleased with herself.   
"You MADE that?" Hayai didn't seem to think Kichi was the sort to make something like that...   
"Bought the materials, did it up while you lot shopped around. Raichu speed is a must, I finished in little more then 20 minutes..."   
"It's really nice..." Kijutsu said, slight hint of envy there.   
Kichi turned, and on the back was written some Kanji lettering.   
"Ish my name. In Japanese ^^ - Why not, it's a Japanese clothing item..."   
On the back were 8 characters. 2 words of 4.   
"Nice..." I commented.   
"I feel Rai'morphs look good in kimono. I could make one for ya if you wanted..."   
"It doesn't seem me..."   
"I'll make it anyway. Because I think it's what Raichus should wear. Not just now though..." 

It was getting late. We'd been at the store all day...Now it was 11pm and with this daylight disappearing quicker in the fall, it was quite dark already. On the way, we talked about random things, how this happening hadn't affected things too much and stuff, except there were now 4 of us stemmed from 2 people, myself and Meg... 

"Quite dumb, really...Considering all that went down beforehand, not a lot has changed...Except everything...It's so...weird..." Kijutsu was commenting, not living up to her surname, "silent one" but then we were all talking then...   
"Hai, hai - It's probably better nothing has changed, because everyone knows what to expect…" Kichigai started, but it was ended by another voice.   
"And no one expects a situation like the one you've just walked into…" Myself and the group looked around, there were about two dozen morphs, wielding various heavy weapons. The voice was an Arcanine morph, standing outside the circle of morphs that surrounded us. I turned to Kichigai, speaking in Raichu again…   
No prizes for guessing how we get out of this one… >> I said.   
4 against 24? Don't you think it's unfair…? >>   
Nah…They can live with the disadvantage… >>   
And at that, they moved in. Kichi and myself seemed to disappear.   
"Where did they go?" Hayai asked Kijutsu, not pleased that it was now 2 against 24.   
Split second later, two of the other morph's heads clicked sideways for no reason and Kichi and myself reappeared behind where they were standing. The Arcanine's jaw dropped.   
"Since when could Raichus disappear?"   
"Since never…Though speed is good…" Kichi turned and started to lay into a group standing there, I myself did the same. A Ninetales morph ran up, wielding a crowbar. He tried a quick vertical swing, I sidestepped and he dropped the piece of metal on the head of a Charmeleon morph, he dropped like a stone. I sidestepped back in and shoved the bar backwards quickly, it forced it's way through the gaping morph's mouth and exploded through the back of the skull. I shoved the dead body forward, it fell back and the end of the bar lanced the arm of a Growlithe, before falling to the floor and taking the howling morph's arm with it. I turned to the Arcanine.   
"Maybe your group needs a combat training lesson…"   
He watched on, the bodies seeming to disappear for some reason.   
Kichigai was just scratching and tearing at any morph that came in her way, before charging a quick thunderbolt, spinning and plugging the electricity into a rather started Wartortle morph, who jolted a bit before slumping to the ground. A kick and another crack made sure of that one.   
Kijutsu held her own, two morphs went through to grab her and she flew up, they crashed into each other and she fell forward, like the Persian she partly was, claws outstretched, leaving 20 countable claw holes in each of the two morphs, at least 7 hitting the head. She then turned and launched fury swipes at a young Meowth, pulling out blood with every swipe, eventually enough was clawed out and he dropped.   
Hayai was just avoiding, rolling and flipping out, letting some of them hit each other, before he stopped, ears twitching. From his paws black energy started flowing, coming together into a ball, which slowly grew. Several ran for him at this point but he tossed the ball forward, it ripped parts off of about 4 morphs as it traveled, they fell to the floor bleeding, the ball itself impacted straight into a Hypno morph, of all things…He shook violently for a bit, before falling to the ground, a trickle of blood from his nose. 

Between us, we managed to deal death to the 24, coming out scratched, bruised, and marked. Kichigai's kimono was still shining at the end of it though. I turned to the Arcanine, noticing him tossing a ball at one of the latest dead, and catching it.   
"Well…er…Bye bye…" He darted off, and we sat in the middle of the road, surrounded by various blood patches. We traipsed back to the lodgings, where Kichi and myself treated the wounds of the other two, and Kichi finished off with my own few scratches.   
"You remained unharmed throughout…Pretty good…" I admitted.   
"The only incentive was the kimono - Otherwise I would probably have been hit many times…"   
I laughed, before we were all ready to heal, and only the sleep we got that night could do the job. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Day 6 - 28/09/06 

10) - The Move 

Estimated time: 3am 

I sit here and write this, and think: It's not been a whole lot that has happened so far…I think I have written too much for 6 days, in fact…No matter, it's all good…In case this is found later, I put down my plans: 

1) - We pick up and move to the lodge…We shall do this in about an hour.   
2) - We set up and stuff, we'll be arriving there at about 6am…We'll eat, sleep, and when we wake we are back out again. We shall set out at around 6pm, to arrive at around 9-10pm. Any later, and we'll be under the stars sleeping…   
3) - We wake up, around 6-7am. Then we get inside Silph building which is on the outer edge of this town, find the Legendary Three, retrieve the pendant, and then exit again…We have to find them by 8pm or something, otherwise it shall be found…and then, uh…Then, I haven't a clue…Something bad maybe…   
4) - Whatever the result of that, we come back here and prepare to go out and look for the last pendant…   
5) - Who knows… 

Sayonara, whoever may read/find this, and whatever may happen… 

Mattchu Tatakai-Yamuwoezu ( 28/09/06 )   


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   


Mattchu finished writing, and looked at all he had written. Rather a lot for just the small space of 6 days, but it covered all of what needed to be said…He placed the document on the table cabinet beside his bed and clicked off the lamp. Then he got up, looking around wearily, he headed into the kitchen area of the small accommodation where he and the others were situated temporarily, where all the food would be, had there been any left… 

Of course, being things as they were, all the food they could get was carried…so everything from here was being taken…There wasn't a lot here, just supply for a few days…But a few days was all they would need… 

Kichigai had assured Mattchu that there was food at the lodge, but he wanted to be prepared… 

"Besides, extra food is always a benefit…" 

And so, after packing all the things, mostly food, but there were some other things too…Mainly clothing… 

"I'm sure we all know what we do now…So, let's go…" Kichi said, and they walked out. It was still dark, slight amounts of hazy light chinking in at the odd moment around the edge of some clouds in the far horizon, but other then that, the only light was the odd streetlight…The amount of night-vision they possessed was minimal, but it suited enough for them to see things, and not to walk into anything when they passed from the street lights…By which time it may have lightened slightly, and it wouldn't matter anyway… 

The night was quite beautiful, the odd star or 6 seen in different places every so often, Mattchu thought it was cloud cover causing it, no one really cared what it was. Mattchu was talking to Kichi who was leading the way, and several feet back talking rather quietly were Hayai and Kijutsu. 

The way Kijutsu had been at the start was quiet, to say the least. You wouldn't have told that from the frequency she was talking now…Mostly to Hayai, but then Mattchu had never really noticed that before… 

Anyway, the road was pretty straightforward. They headed out of the city and took a slight bend left, which lead towards the unused hilly land nearby. By this time, Kichi estimated they'd been walking a half hour. Nothing exciting. 

"Half an hour? It seems like forever…" Hayai was moaning repetitively, as we were stopped as Kichi figured out approximately where we were going.   
"We still have 4 times that distance to go, yet…" Kijutsu told him, "Anyway, stop moaning, the walk tomorrow will take twice as long as the whole of this…"   
"What?!" Hayai wasn't plussed by this amount of news.   
"We are setting back out at 6pm tomorrow, Hayai. To arrive at the main Silph center in Miami about 4 hours later…" Mattchu added.   
"Aw…Well, you can almost instantaneously travel…Can't we use that option instead?"   
"And tell me how you would benefit from that…You'd still be walking it…"   
"Well, couldn't you carry me…"   
"He could do…" Kichigai said, "Except you probably wouldn't survive for that long…Instantaneous movement is no easy task…" 

The conversation stopped there, as Kichi set back out into the mountains, and they followed on intently, it still quite dark, and they not wanting to get lost. 

Hayai and Kijutsu drifted off back a bit again, Mattchu stayed up front and talked there. 

"So, what exactly is this lodge like then, Kichi..?"   
"It's nothing special. Just a nice secluded place from where we can avoid unnecessary fighting, meeting, and so forth…"   
"Is this lodge public, or is it your own?" 

Mattchu was intentionally trying to lengthen this conversation, since the fact was, he was going to be walking for the next however long he was going to be walking for, it was thought another hour and a half, roughly, but everything takes longer then expected... 

"Nah, it's just a place I go when I need to think and stuff - Don't worry, it has space for all of us, otherwise I wouldn't have said go there..." 

Mattchu would have silently almost cursed if his self-decency didn't say otherwise...And then he wondered why...And then he forgot why, and kept walking, now not really interested in conversing just now...Best to leave it until later, you can talk then...It's gonna be a long enough walk as it is, don't want to waste topics for later while we are just getting started...   
Kichigai, at this point, wanted to hit him. Except she knew he didn't think she noticed that much when he was muttering... Although not everyone has raichu-like hearing, those that do are most notably the raichu... And he didn't see she knew. Best to leave it until later. Then you can talk...   


And so, they walked on, echoes of claws clicking against the cold semi-tarmac covered ground, carrying on for a fairly long distance. Kichigai and Mattchu knew when they were moving near to the area, as the track started to become covered in loose soil and the odd few stones as they progressed along the trail. Mattchu turned to look back it, he couldn't see Hayai or Kijutsu. They were probably several hundred yards behind, if not more. 

"Do you think we should stop and wait?" Mattchu quizzed Kichi, she turned to him, eyes cold. She was tired of this walking, as he was.   
"The road has no more forks in. It's just a very winding trail. It's tarmac up to a point, and in another ten or twenty minutes, it will be straight dirt...And we'll be about half way there..." 

Mattchu could still hear the clicking of claws on tarmac echoing up from quite a way down the trail. Kichi could too. She could also hear them talking, though she couldn't make anything out. Once the track moved to dirt by Kijutsu and Hayai, the two raichu'morphs couldn't be sure they were still there. Mattchu thought Hayai fared well before, so they were fine. Kichigai wasn't so sure... 

Time passed on. About a half hour after they reached the dirt, the clicking behind them having been gone for maybe 5 to 10 minutes, which said they weren't that far behind,   
"Shouldn't we stop and wait for them now?" Mattchu asked again.   
"No need, this is one path that continues for the next half hour or so. Then we are there." Kichi replied. They continued on, aware they now didn't know if the two were still there or not… 


	3. Chapters 11-15: The Articuno Pendant

Anthro Pokémon Stories #1: Chapters 11-15   
(and again.. This portion of the fic covers chapters 11-15..)   
  


11) - The Lodge 

The sun started to rise about 20 minutes later, filling the air and surrounding forestland with a red glow in amongst the greens. Kichi turned a corner around the side of a small hill, Mattchu following as ever, and Kichi stopped.   
"Well, there's the lodge..." Kichi pointed, and Mattchu gazed into the distance at a faraway building, the path that they were on snaking it's way up to its entrance. Mattchu was obviously getting bored of this long walk, but he remembered he had twice as far to go later on today, so he wasn't complaining too much…But then he'd have to walk back. 

There was still no sign of Hayai or Kijutsu from behind them, as Kichigai and Mattchu reached the lodge. It was a large place, outside made of wood but almost certainly having been remade from the inside, shadows on every one of the curved planks that made up its front. It looked rather a daunting place, especially in the twilight of the early morning, but it was going to be home from now until whenever they had to move from here. 

Kichi pushed the door open, and walked in, followed by Mattchu. The place was dark, and there was a lingering musky smell, suggested that the place hadn't been touched for a while. The place had an electric supply somewhere, Mattchu noticed by a wall switch conveniently placed to his right. 

"Okay, a run down of the place, quickly…" She hesitated. "On second thoughts, I think we'd be better waiting for the others before I did that. They'll be about a half hour or something. So…I suggest you unpack your stuff upstairs, in the guest bedroom, it has it on the door…I expect the other two to have got here by then, so take as much time as you need." She headed silently into the kitchen, each step clicked on the wood floor. Mattchu silently groaned, and hoped it didn't carry in the air well, otherwise anyone moving would wake the whole place up…Mind, at least they'd know if anyone was doing so down here…He edged over to the stairway, almost wincing at the loud clicks, and headed up the stairs two at a time. 

Pausing briefly to reiterate where he was, he found the door marked Guest…stepping back out of the toilet he found another one marked Guest and headed in. Undecorated though it was, it had two beds, one on each side of the room, tables, a window, and a desk. This room was probably intended to be a study when it wasn't serving as a room for the guests, Mattchu thought. There wasn't much to unpack, most of what he had was food, but he pulled the few things he brought with him, being his notes from earlier on, which he placed at the desk; his pendant, which shone again as it hit the dim light as he put it back on; various writing and drawing utensils, he put them with the notes on the desk, of which there was more paper then used; he brought spare. It was something to do, even if writing and drawing wasn't his strongest point, but it passed the time; He also had an amount of money left, which he placed in the cabinet. 

And finally, he pulled out a spherical object, black, the surface reflective even in the dim light… 

"Master ball…" he muttered, "Used to be Mashu's…" He had a thought…He clicked the button for return and nothing happened. He sighed, that much was useless now…He tossed it up and down a few times, the second time he overthrew and it landed square on his head. Mattchu rubbed the bump and thought back to the gym, and Choukou, and Senkouhi…   
"…This thing only works on morphs that are dead or very near to it…" Mattchu sighed. That was proven in that street fight…What wasn't known was why `morphs would want to do this in the first place… 

He then had a thought again, back to training days. There was Matt…and he was him…and there was Mashu…and when that thing happened, Matt became him…Well duh…But then Matt hadn't been able to shoot and charge lightning unaided…though he had slight ability with it, so did everyone with some form of element…Then he hit it. It was just for power. That's all this was, and that's all it would continue to be…The more pokémon/morphs one got into the ball, the more power he had… 

[ Well, don't think you yourself got to that conclusion…You could have, but it's easier for me to say… ] Sadame. At the back of his mind…   
{ Anything else I need to know, O Wise One…? }   
[ Just that it's always possible for the thing you're catching to either become partly or fully spliced with you, if you aren't powerful enough to handle their capabilities…The largest area of power wins…Except for the pendants, they mean limitless power, but only in that one situation…Otherwise they just look nice…]   
{ So that won't ever happen…? }   
[ It still could, but only if whomsoever you get has a pendant also…Which means Senkouhi, unfortunately…And you knew that all along, but you'll only beat him if you have more power…and then it won't be a problem…maybe. ]   
{ I'll bear that in mind… } 

The voice faded out. Another few voices came through, and clicks…But this wasn't his head, this was downstairs…Hayai and Kijutsu had arrived…He headed downstairs again, where Kichigai came to meet him 

"I was just going to get you…Anyway, sit down somewhere and we can go through what we have left to do…" 

Mattchu walked into the main room, where Hayai and Kijutsu were sat talking on a couch. He sat down on the one opposite them. 

"You two finally made it then, heh.." Mattchu said, a slight smile crossing his face. Hayai turned from conversation.   
"Yeah - I still think it would have been easier if you'd have carted us there - We could have been here hours ago…"   
"I told you, you couldn't stand being moved at that speed for that long…Apart from the fact we can't travel over that much distance for that long anyway…"   
"I could have flown…Except the wings won't take me for that long a distance, either…" Kijutsu, listening in, and she was sitting right near, so it wasn't that hard to do. 

Kichigai walked in at this point, and sat in the only available place in the duo couch setup; the one next to Mattchu. 

"Okay then…So this is the lodge. Everything is easily found, there's a generator that can be switched on out back. Hayai, you're in the guest bedroom with Matt, and Kijy is in the main room with me…" 

Kijy. Kijutsu winced at the name, sounded akin to "Pidgey". Hayai grinned, Mattchu just kept listening. 

"So, Mattchu, refresh us on what will happen next…" said Kichi, pleasant-toned in voice, as ever.   
"This is a kind of midway point, as from here we move further on, to Miami…We won't cut through any other towns on the way, it's too much bother…so it'll be all crossing flatland…"   
"Miami? You said on the walk that you wanted to walk it in 4 hours…" Kichi quizzed.   
"Yeah, that's right…" Mattchu added.   
"You can't walk 100 miles in that time!"   
"Uh…100 miles?"   
Kichi sighed, "From here to Miami is about 112 miles…You have any other transport planned?"   
"Hm…No?"   
Kichi grinned, "Well, you can try and walk it if you like, I think we're going to need something like a car here…"   
"Well then, Kichi. Where do you suggest we get one of those?"   
"Why not try the garage out back?"   
"Uh…?" Mattchu thought quickly, "Well, yeah…but why didn't you say?"   
"Because I knew this conversation would come up where you expected us to walk half of Florida in the latter half of the night…"   
"Fine…I'm assuming you have a…"   
"License?" Kichigai finished the sentence. "Now for what purpose would I have a car without a license…"   
"Point taken…So, we have about 10 or 11 hours, we be setting out at 6pm…"   
"And from there?"   
"We enter the building, of which I don't know how yet, and can't plan from here. We search until we find. We then disappear. We're looking for Articuno because he has the pendant as of now…Except it's pretty evident Silph are going to attempt to cross them, that's what they wanted to do all along…" Mattchu stopped. He didn't know this, so why was he saying it.   
[ You don't know it. I do…Just keep going… ]   
Sadame again. Mattchu continued, reassured, "We have to have this done by tomorrow at 8pm."   
"8pm?" Kichigai looked up, "If we're going to do it this fast, we need a plan."   
"That's 8pm tomorrow, we're going to be getting there at 10pm…You have all night…"   
"Well, if we need the night, then hadn't we better sleep now? That would work better…"   
"Yes, true…That okies with you two?" Mattchu directed towards Hayai and Kijutsu. They both agreed.   
"But before that…" Kichi said, standing, "I fixed up something to eat…" She walked into the kitchen and came back with 2 trays, with several rice balls on each. She placed one to each side of the table   
"Enjoy.." Kichi added, before picking one up real fast and eating it, without anyone but Mattchu noticing much of it. He sniggered and picked one up normally.   
"Y'know, I never had one of these before…" He ate a bit, "…And I'm wondering how I coulda missed these…" 

Kijutsu picked up one and started eating it, and Mattchu expect Meg had fed them to her pokémon back a while ago. Hayai also hadn't had any, but he just picked one up and ate it, spluttering with a mouthful, "This is good!" 

"Yes, Hayai, it's good, but it's not good if you send a load of it flying towards me…"   
"Sorry Kichi…" Mattchu sent Hayai off to get something to clean it up with, while the rest ate. Kichi saved Hayai a good half of the bowl, because she was finished quickly. Mattchu took a couple and wrapped them in some tissue paper for later, while Kichi ate, rather like Kijutsu did. Mattchu yawned loudly. 

"I suppose you'll want a rest too after that walk anyway…We have until about 4-5pm to sleep…Then we can prepare and head out."   
"Okay." Hayai rushed off, unknowing Mattchu already got the best bet. Mattchu grinned and headed after him.   
"Well, so starts the day, unseen by us, I guess…" Kijutsu headed upstairs slowly.   
"I guess, Kijy…" Kichi followed her up. 

Everyone was asleep quickly, for the long walk of earlier that morning had left them all exhausted…At least now they could go by car instead, that would be much easier. Mattchu wasn't quite asleep though, as he hardly was now, and he thought he heard clicks downstairs. He didn't go to check, and put them down to his imagination instead, before lulling deeper asleep, and ceasing his thinking of conscious thoughts…   


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Day 6: 28/09/06 

12) - The Road Trip 

They slept right through to the afternoon…well Mattchu did. Kijutsu woke up first, at around 4:30pm. She shook Kichigai up and they went downstairs to fix themselves food. Clicks echoed around like bullet sound in the quietness of the lodge and the surrounding area, and it woke Hayai up. Hayai tried to shake Mattchu awake, but it didn't work. After 15 minutes of futile shoving, he gave up and went downstairs also. The three morphs' loud clicking downstairs did not wake Mattchu. 

About a half hour later, after the three had eaten, Kichigai slipped upstairs as the other two were gathering foodstuff to take with them in the car, and into the guest bedroom where Mattchu was.   
"Hey Mattchu…"   
He did not stir. Kichi moved up and tried again, in a louder voice.   
"Mattchu?"   
He moved slightly, real vulnerable, Kichi thought if this had have been Senkouhi then Mattchu have been in trouble. She crouched behind him, and gripped the tip of the hypersensitive ear between two claws. She squeezed between, just to see if it would wake him. The ear flicked slightly, and he only moved a small bit.   
"He is not going to like me for this…" She bent to the ear and shouted, in a very Rai-like voice,   
"MATTCHU! WAKE UP!"   
Mattchu nearly hit the ceiling. He snapped awake and spun around, cheeks sparking and lighting up the dark room like candlelight flickering.   
"…" Mattchu looked at Kichi, "What the f-"   
"Well, you do have to get up today, and I already tried several other methods…" She giggled and disappeared. Mattchu saw her zip out of the open door, and calmed slightly. He discharged the excess electric onto the metal bed frame before heading downstairs also. 

Downstairs, everything was set up to leave. The back of the car was packed with some food supplies, Hayai placed a few more in, and then closed it. He turned to Mattchu.   
"Well, we've put in as much as we can get inside there…So we are all set to leave, whenever we need to."   
"Good…" Mattchu said. Kichi had obviously been getting things organized while he had been asleep. As though induced, Kichi walked in.   
"Packed up, Hayai?"   
"As much in as we can get in."   
"Good…And we're early too, so we can set off any time." She turned to Mattchu, "Anything you're thinking of taking? If so, get it and get in, we should be getting to Miami at around 4 hours after we set off, assuming traffic is clear out there.."   
Mattchu hesitated, "…Okay, I just have to get what I'm taking from upstairs…"   
"Something wrong?" Kichi looked over at Matt.   
"No, it's fine - Just thinking of what I was going to take." Mattchu slipped back upstairs. 

He wondered why he lied. It wasn't anything nearby, there was just something…wrong; whether today or in the next few days, he was getting the feeling something bad was going to happen… 

[ He's looking for you ] 

Mattchu spun around again. Sadame was there, glancing around the room with her cat-like eyes. 

"…Who..?"   
[ You know who.. ] 

He did, yes. Senkouhi. He could picture him, fur ablaze, eyes set black as black would ever be, clothing to match, walking up a track…The track.   
He turned to Sadame, and she nodded, [ How he knew? The same way you know of he…Tetsu is with him, and myself and my sisters are bonded, of course…Tetsu is relaying through the pendant, just as I'm doing… ]   
"So…"   
[ He will be here in half an hour. You aren't meeting him now, you must go. There is no way you could beat him as you are, and he knows it, so you don't want to chance a meeting now. Take whatever is of value to you and get that car rolling… ] 

Mattchu picked up his notes off the table, removed the bag from under the table, and flung the notes and a few other belongings in, such as the money, the master ball, and all his writing and drawing utensils. 

[ Jitsu also knows, so Kichi does too. You'll find she's doing the same as you with her belongings, so I estimate if Hayai and Kichi are in the car, you can get away from here in 5 minutes… ]   
"Wait…If he's here in half an hour, why are we in such a rush?"   
[ Because now I told you, he knows you're going to be on the way out… ]   
Mattchu caught a mind-glimpse of Senkouhi running.   
"Wonderful…Okay, I see the point, we haven't got a lot of time…"   
[ Okay - Good luck on the Silph infiltration…and thank you. ] 

Mattchu looked down and fastened the now full bag. He looked up, Sadame had gone again. He headed down the wooden clicking stairs two at a time, and headed for the door inside the kitchen that led to the back. 

When he headed out, he saw Kichi's car. It was quite large, blue, and all the doors were open.   
Hayai and Kijutsu had already got in, and they were sitting in the back. Kichi came out a few seconds later. 

"You're aware…?" she began.   
"Yes…Quick, we have about 5 min as it is…" 

Mattchu headed into the front passenger seat, Kichi dived in at the wheel and spun the key a few times. All of them shut the doors as Kichi did so. It clicked a few times. 

"Argh…Damn it, start…" Kichi kept turning it.   
"Why are we in such a hurry?" Kijutsu asked Kichi.   
"You fancy staying here when Senkouhi gets here in a few minutes?" Kijutsu stared at Kichi. Kichi went on, "Didn't think so…"   
  


On the track up, footsteps quickly made their way around. Senkouhi turned the corner which was the last one before the lodge, and quickly ran on. The track under his paws was black when he passed over it. 

"Damn then for starting off early…" His thoughts were clouded with what he would do to the four when he did catch them. If he didn't this time, he would the next time. Or the one after. Tetsu was a good information source, for as long as Mattchu and Kichigai had pendants, Tetsu, and thus he, knew roughly where they would be. Then he thought away from that, and thought of what he could do to them. Whether or not he should rip off the tails of the raichu'morphs, or just the little end piece. Wasn't sharp enough to drive into their head properly, but he could try…Through the ears would work, they were as soft and sensitive as it got. As for the hybrid Eevee…Well, he could be convinced…He could kill him, but Burakki was a pokémon he much liked. Black was better then this red, and the evilness was expected. He thought Hayai should have gone through them already. Then he remembered; Hayai was also part Jolt and Eevee, and so would be akin to good…for now. Wouldn't take the flare long to break the young Eevee, there was more here then ever those four could have…But torturing Kijutsu would be fun. Winged hybrids were fun. Always. He had tortured a few before…All you needed to do was play at the wings, maybe the odd sharply-dragged feather or forty…But aside from that was the wing's attachment to the back area. It was the most fragile point on them, experience told him that. For you could tear the wing off with little force, as with the hybrid winged, the wings were not in place of the arms, so the wings existed by little more then a muscle and bone cluster…And, he thought, if that wasn't enough, he could twist it right around until it snapped. He would keep that, yes…Along with a part of one of Mattchu's ears and maybe the black part of Kichi's tail. No bolt, of course, that would be sticking partly out of one of her ears, with a trickle of blood running down the side of the raichu head. And Hayai…By the time he was finished, he'd probably want Kijutsu's other wing, and Kichi's ears, and probably the black part of Mattchu's tail as well… 

This thought process lasted him until he reached the door of the lodge. From the back he heard a car head off. 

"Missed them…Damn…Just wait, I'll have you yet…" He placed a hand on the door, wood of course, it started to burn. "Well, at least now you won't have any easy place to stay…"   


Inside Senkouhi's mind sat Tetsu. Everything around was dark, apart from where she was. She couldn't move, she was being restrained. She saw the lodge start to burn, and was able to know what Senkouhi's thoughts were before that, and she sighed. 

"Now now…Don't be like that, dear…" A voice from somewhere else.   
[ Must you persist in thinking I like you? Give me a break… ] 

The anthro Mewtwo goddess was grabbed by her hair and her head rotated sharply to the left.   
"Attitude is not something I recommend…" the harsh voice said. "Just a bit longer, and soon you shall think that. There's nothing anyone can do, either…For inside here, there is just you, and me…" 

The restraints were nothing more then tassels of psi energy wrapped around the arms and legs. Had she not been here, she could have gotten free by will. But the mere facts of this place, the fact it didn't really exist at all, and the fact she was trapped here by the pendant, it made her abilities useless. That is how he would keep it until the effects of being contained inside the mind of one as evil as Senkouhi, tended to by another…She sighed, while her reasoning and judgment were slowly eaten at by this place…   


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Day 6, continued; 

13) - The Way it Must Be 

And so she lay, suspended a few feet in the air, a beam of light surrounding her, that was surrounded by darkness…The edges of the beam of light moved inwards slightly, as the beam started to get smaller…Tetsu knew that she didn't have long… 

The voice came back, footsteps echoing around the unreal place inside Senkouhi's mind.   
"Any nearer, dear?" it cooed to her.   
"Nope, sorry hun, it's going to take a lot more then this I think…" she mockingly cooed back. Her head was grabbed by the hair again.   
"Be serious please…I'm surprised one such as yourself could find time to joke when you are becoming, how shall I put it…tainted…"   
"So you think by keeping me here, you can hope to break me…I think not…You could try for ever but I would never give to you…"   
She spat at the figure, which removed the hand from her hair, it disappeared back into black, before whipping from it again and slapping her hard. She gave a short cry; her head jolted to face the other way.   
"You know it's only a matter of time…"   
She cut in again, turning back to him, "Time nothing, you could spend eternity and not get any nearer. Why don't you give up trying, just keep me here for eternity, while my sisters kill you before we ever get there. You need to go back to playing head games with the flareon, Myuutsu…As only a fool would continue with me her…But I guess that proves my point, does it not…" 

He slapped her again. Her head jolted, harder. A trickle of blood seeped from her nose. The balled paw-hand grasped her hair again and wrenched it back towards him. The anthro Mewtwo stood directly over her now, blocking some of the light.   
"It is not for you to try judging your superiors, Tetsu…Especially not me…If I wanted to I would kill you now, but you know as well as me I have no intention of that…For as soon as you sit on the side of Senkouhi and I, you will be of great aid…And until then, you'll be a bitch." He let go, and ran the back of a paw down her front.   
"Yes…That may be so, but there is no doubt you have great beauty…"She struggled a bit, but the tassels would not give way. He stopped at her waist.   
"Whereas you may break me Myuutsu, I will ask you don't do that until I can't think clearly any more. That's probably the only way you'd get it anyway…" He turned to her again, paw out. A sound came from behind Myuutsu and Myuutsu didn't turn. Suddenly he felt a pain in the arm that was up. He looked up, and hanging from it was a flareon, having bit into the arm, probably ran up from behind and jumped at him.   
"Senkouhi…Heh…Look what I left you after I had finished…No matter, what is left of Senkouhi's good side he had while non-anthro can not do anything…" He brought the arm down hard and Senkouhi was dragged with it. He slipped off and crashed onto the barren floor hard. He yelped and dashed behind the other side of Tetsu.   
"Leave the flareon alone Myuutsu - If what you say is true, you have no need to cause him harm…"   
Myuutsu thought for a while, before he turned back to Tetsu, "If I intended to, I wouldn't have thrown him down, I'd have slit his neck in a full circle. Now rest, my work here will be complete when you are. Don't make me stay here any longer then I have to, I'd rather have fully merged with the evil Senkouhi then just have to sit in here and tend to you two…" 

Myuutsu walked off back into the darkness. Senkouhi nudged at Tetsu and then lay beside, out of the darkness. Tetsu suddenly had an arm free. She looked at Senkouhi, who looked up at her. She petted the fire Eevee lightly, and gazed upwards at the endless darkness and the light which grew smaller every few seconds. She sighed again. Senkouhi dozed off. 

- 

The Senkouhi that existed in the real world, however, stood nearby to the lodge and watched it burn. The fire he had set off a while ago had spread all around the outside. Soon it would be blazing, and if it hit the generator, the fuel would help in the burning too. He'd raze this to the ground, and then he'd set off for Miami, where they had gone; He could walk there in a matter of days, and he knew they couldn't keep running for ever… 

- 

Tetsu surveyed this, and knew what she had to do. She nodded to Senkouhi, who sat upright, waiting for some signal. Senkouhi lay down again, and the light above Tetsu fully disappeared. Senkouhi walked away. 

Myuutsu returned about a half hour later. He saw Tetsu lying in the dark, the only light coming from the tassels. She was as black as the darkness itself, lying there in a state of near-sleep. Myuutsu came up, and ran his paw down the side of her face as she slept. She awoke, eyes set in slits, red slits, as Myuutsu's were similar to. 

"I see time has finally ran its course, Tetsu…" Myuutsu commented.   
"Indeed it has…" Tetsu smiled at Myuutsu. He turned away slightly, before looking back.   
"One such as me…in a situation like this with one as lovely as yourself…It says something to me…"   
"What, with me being restrained and all…?" Tetsu winked at him. Myuutsu ran the paw-hand down her again, got to the waist. Tetsu smiled again and looked at him. He continued on, she said nothing. As he reached the leg, he said again, "Now I am convinced it went well." He motioned at the bonds around Tetsu's arms and they disappeared. The ones around her legs did too, and Myuutsu pulled Tetsu to her feet. A dim light appeared from above, lighting up both of the Mewtwo anthros.   
"Now that I know you are not trying to trick me, I would continue; but here it means nothing, for this is Senkouhi's mind…And while I may spend time with you in here, Senkouhi could be nearer to dying, and that wouldn't be so good for us…And besides, wouldn't you rather have me physically?"   
Tetsu laughed; the sort of laugh you expect from a black female Mewtwo, "Of course…So you shall complete your half with Senkouhi, while I remain here and direct you as to the thoughts of my sisters, so you can execute those that may seek to kill you…"   
"And then, after that, what we do, is up to you…" Myuutsu smiled an evil smile and walked off in the direction that Senkouhi left in earlier. 

He found Senkouhi nearby, lying in the middle of nowhere, bathed in his own fiery glow.   
"Senkouhi…It is now time for something you knew was coming…" Senkouhi jumped to his feet and backed away.   
I can't see this continue - You corrupted her and you are not getting to what is left of me… >>   
Myuutsu produced a master ball, black as the surroundings in which they were.   
"You know you have no choice…" Senkouhi tried to run, but a blue glow enveloped him and he couldn't move. Myuutsu tossed the master ball at him, it spun in the air and hit Senkouhi. He let out a cry as he was sucked into it, Myuutsu looking on with a smirk on his face. The glow around where Senkouhi was dissipated, and the master ball clunked on the floor. 

- 

As he did this, the anthro flareon Senkouhi suddenly felt pain, and dropped to the floor, saying not a word. He gulped breaths down and tried to ignore the inevitability he was faced with, but he was finding it hard to do so. So he concentrated on his thoughts of what he could do to the four who opposed he. And he smiled as he did so… 

- 

Tetsu thought, and smiled. She smiled because she had done such a good job at fooling Myuutsu.   
It was the Flareon's idea, he had thought if Tetsu tricked Myuutsu into going with the combination then they would have been locked in deadlock together…And she could have provided the difference, and Senkouhi would have been liberated.   
Myuutsu grabbed the master ball, which started to glow slightly. A red glow surrounded him, covering him from view. 

Myuutsu heard Senkouhi, { Fool…Do you not remember that I still have the pendant? } Myuutsu looked down at himself, which was rapidly furring over. Uh…Damn… >> 

Tetsu smiled as Myuutsu became Senkouhi, and Myuutsu was lost forever. He also knew now Myuutsu wasn't fully gone, but that he and Senkouhi would be at halves, and she was the one who would turn that halves to the good side.   
And this would all be over…The light reappeared above her, and her dark guise faded out. The glow from nearby faded. An anthro Senkouhi walked up from where Myuutsu had once walked. 

"I thank you, Tetsu…Had it not been for your part, I'd have had to sit there and wait for you to go dark before I could have control again…Except, really, not that much has changed…"   
"Whatever could you mean?"   
"Well…When I was talking to you, I didn't quite relay everything…You see, Myuutsu thought I'd oppose him…That was nonsense, I'm still happy that I'm eventually going to kill the others…But Myuutsu's ways were crude…He needed more thought…So I decided to stop sitting back and start getting things sorted. And this is how I intend to start." 

Tetsu stepped back, "You…you tricked me also…" Senkouhi stepped up, "I know. You see why I couldn't let him continue as he was. He got himself out of the group by killing Choukou. Dumb, stupid, imbecilic. He wanted to play along with them and then kill them off secretly by saying that they had left in the night with him and got captured. Of course, those left would have seen through it eventually, which is why I put it to his level of thinking. But it would have done the job. Instead, they now flee on sight knowing they can't win, and I'm going to have to go the long way round before I can kill them! Damn…Subordinates are so annoying…Especially stupid ones…"   
Tetsu turned to escape but Senkouhi flung up his paw and the same blue glow that had once trapped a flareon now encircled the anthro Mewtwo femme.   
"And also, with the addition of Myuutsu, come the addition of psi to my abilities…If they couldn't beat me before, they don't stand hell's chance now…" He walked to the front of Tetsu.   
"I do thank you, even if you don't thank me. Normally I'd let you leave on those grounds but I need you here, otherwise I may never locate them again…Except I would have to keep coming here to continue with the process Myuutsu so badly started…" 

Senkouhi grasped Tetsu's arm. "Come with me. I can promise power more then that of your sisters, and more then that which is ever needed here…A goddess in her own right, that's what you always attained to be, right? The 5 of you were so similar…but there was one which people felt was more akin to slip into tricks such as this…and they called that one Tetsu. A mistake…You were not shunned, but with the giving of such a name, who needed shunning? You were branded a mistake from the start, why do anything else?" 

Senkouhi could feel Tetsu's will being stretched.   
{ My sisters…They treated me as they treated themselves…We all did to each other… }   
"Wrong again…They had names with double meanings, but their double meanings never struck such territory as calling them a mistake…"   
{ Sadame was also called Decision…The branded her bossy… }   
"No, they branded her with common sense. She makes decisions, you makes mistakes…"   
{ Similar to the one I'd be making if I joined you. Subtle. } 

Senkouhi looked at Tetsu, "Myuutsu was right with the beauty part…And so smart, too…But one thing was obvious; you aren't as able as the other sisters…So…" On his saying this, the glow around Tetsu brightened. "…you won't be able to prevent being de-anthroized…" Senkouhi let go of Tetsu as the glow brightened. Senkouhi watched on as Tetsu's shape became smaller; more defined in certain areas like the head…A few minutes later, the glow faded, and Tetsu the Mewtwo lay sprawled on the floor.   
"And so, by reducing you to semi-sentient…You lose much of the ability to withstand this place…" She sat up, not knowing of much. Her head darted in various places as she looked about. Senkouhi laughed, "And become more pathetic also…" 

- 

Senkouhi convulsed on the floor, His nose started to trickle blood. He closed his eyes and lay there, in the middle of nowhere, slowly becoming more as the dual Myuutsu-Senkouhi should look… 

- 

The small semi-sentient Mewtwo femme glared at Senkouhi, eyes blue. Senkouhi shook his head.   
"No…You know you can't do anything to me here…But me to you, that's a different matter…"   
The whole area began to go red. It was like blood had seeped over the darkness and was now masking the two from view of each other.   
"And now I have no need of this area…so by removing it, I gain control of you, Tetsu, as well…" And then, the area of split mentality ceased to exist for Senkouhi, as there was none split now, just him… 

- 

Senkouhi felt this, too. He coughed up an amount of blood. This wasn't happening in an evolution way, this was just making itself happen…And damn it, it hurt…   
Senkouhi's fur shortened and went that gray color known so well to Mewtwo kind…Senkouhi had eradicated any ability for any of the mental fighting experienced with Matt back at the start…As the changes in his mental state continued to take effect on his physical self, he managed to sit up. He wasn't sure where he was now, but he heard nothing…   
And then, it stopped, suddenly. He got up like nothing had happened, walked over the ashes of the lodge he had razed to the ground not long ago, and headed off down the road heading south, towards where the others had headed all that time ago. There was a hood on his black coat, he pulled it way over his head and continued walking, as the sunset approached…   


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Day 6 - 10:20pm 

14) - The Preparation 

It was night before they arrived at the outskirts of the city. Kichi checked the fuel gauge. It didn't seem to have that much left inside it. Hopefully it would do a little longer… 

The trip there was surprisingly easy. The traffic was almost nonexistent, there was just them on that road at that time…They had driven on for the past 4 plus hours, and as the sky had started to darken, there had been signs posting various distance hinters to the city. Some of the other structures in the town were mentioned, but the Silph one definitely was. It said 40 miles. They could cover that in pretty much a half hour at this speed…not that they needed to keep to the limit, but Kichi didn't really want to crash out by going faster then they needed go. { Relax. }, she told herself. { You're moving plenty fast enough, we have a whole lot of time before we touch the building to plan how we are going to get in, anyway.} 

Riding shotgun was Mattchu, and he was just dazing out of the window, thinking up questions that needed no answer, and answers that didn't befall the question. { Here we are. }, he thought. { Four half-pokémon, sitting in a car as it edges towards Miami, when there we have to enter into a large.. }   
he knew it was large, you could see some of it from here, and they were still a few miles away yet   
{ ..a large, corporation owned, semi-secret facility, looking for the Legendary Three, who if they couldn't get out on their own steam, would most surely be under toxin influence or securely locked, both of which would be problematic…}   
[ Relax. ] Sadame, again… [ For your information, the place is up to enough guard strength to cause a problem, but I found something about someone that works there. Scientist female, 24. Jinkei says she's been the most frequent there at Articuno's cell, I'm inclined to think she's close-knit with the whole project of keeping them there. ]   
{ And this is important because…? }   
[ She was morphed into an anthro raichu. 5'8 and blue hair that drapes to the shoulders. Now, who do you know that is similar to her? ] 

Mattchu turned his head and glanced at Kichigai, before sitting back down and looking out front. 

{ So she's going to take the other's place? Subtle… }   
[ It'll be harder then that. The Silph one, name Maureen Wilkinson, is…well…completely the opposite of Kichi in her personality. ]   
{ So, instead of being the kawaii happy raichu, like Kichi there… }   
[ …Maureen is a complete bitch. Yes. It's surprising how two morphs that look the same can be so different. But, as long as she isn't there too long, no-one will notice… ]   
{ And Jinkei knows this from just looking at her come in? }   
[ No…She knows it by looking at her come in and "waking" Articuno with a nightstick… ]   
{ Ah. One of those… } 

Mattchu had seen people like Maureen often. They came quite a lot in his previous line of occupation. Every few weeks you get someone out trying to put holes in your pokémon or whap them a few times with some blunt object. He bet Maureen wanted to keep going with that nightstick until she didn't have to any more. But, Silph wouldn't want them dead now, would they…So she just used where she could, as a rather harsh wakeup device… 

Still, to see her face, and that of the others, to come out of induced consciousness wearing the body of half you and half a pokémon…Mattchu bet she was carting a raichu around in it's ball, bouncing it against the floor as she went. He could see it, a glowing sphere being bounced by this young bitch of a woman, until she grabbed it to examine it, and the influx electricity flung her into a wall, where she hit her head and slipped into unconsciousness…And it worked itself around before she woke, and the scream when she did, and looked at what was now her…Mattchu couldn't help but stifle a grin. Ah, whereas the situation may be hopelessly messed up, screwed like so much shit hitting a fan, and being shred to pieces; people that cared for their pokémon, like he had once had to do, look from their positions of being strong in their fighting because of the way they trained their own pokémon, nothing more; and down upon those that disliked pokémon and were probably accident-morphed…Irony, pure and simple…And he laughed slightly. 

Kichi tapped him, "Sleeping with our eyes open, eh?"   
Mattchu snapped out of his thoughts and looked up. The car was stopped at the side of the road; looming over them about two hundred and fifty feet away was the Silph complex. From down here it must have been several hundred feet high. The complex was surrounded by a large metal fence; probably 10 feet up, barbed wire atop it, most likely electrified. At the front was a gate, like a portcullis; on this side of the wall, a guard post. Two guards, one Growlithe, the other Arcanine, were looking around there, they hadn't noticed us the distance away, and it probably wouldn't matter if they did. Along the side was the Silph logo; an S circled with something that looked like Saturn's rings, and "Silph Co" written in 4 languages on either top or bottom of it. The track was bare; very little buildings in this part. Silph wanted a large desolate area for their holding facility. Quite why they picked the outskirts of Miami, Florida, was beyond any of the 4 morphs at that time. Kichi was looking at it, thinking of some way to get in; Mattchu was just looking at it for the first time; Hayai and Kijutsu had fallen asleep and were leaning on each other in the back. It was kawaii, Mattchu thought. Cute though it may have been, they were here for a reason, but he didn't really want to wake them… 

"So, Matt…You any idea how on Earth we're going to get in?" Kichi asked, looking at him. He turned from the two sleeping morphs and back to the complex, which looked surreal in the darkness.   
"Yes…At some point along tonight, a car is going to part from the complex and head back to the city. The driver shall be female, 24, and look rather similar to you. Her name is Maureen, she is one of the lead scientists of the department and place we need to get to. We shall follow her back until we are well along this route, and then kill her. You take her place, and we head back the next morning, like we are supposed to."   
Kichi looked dubious, "And you know all this because…"   
Mattchu tapped the pendant, "There's one of these where we need to be. Jinkei is still there, that's the reason we came here, remember? And she's been relaying info to Sadame, and if you ask Jitsu, you can have as much info as they have…"   
Kichi retreated to thought for a while. 

[ He is right, Kichi… ] a voice called up.   
{ Hm…You know anything else about Maureen? }   
[ Only that she's been beating Articuno up with a nightstick for no reason at all… ]   
{ …I shall delight in killing this one… } 

Kichi smirked, "It seems I have another incentive too, as you probably do also…" Mattchu nodded. They stayed there watching the gates.   


It seemed like forever, but the dashboard clock said just a half hour. The gates opened, and a few cars rushed out. All headed in towards the city. Mattchu and Kichi scanned the drivers. In the first was a Persian. The next two carried a Rattata and a Pikachu. A bit later, and a red car stumbled out of the gateway. Inside was Maureen, trying ever so hard to keep the car moving. It needed a repair, and she knew it. But she was more preoccupied with her forced translation, and how her change in reflex was affecting her driving slightly. See, before, she turned at the right rate and everything for her reaction time. Now, as son as she said turn, she was 180 degrees around before she could do anything about it.   
( Damn Raichu…too quick for my liking…) she thought silently, then lined up with the road, and set off again. 

Kichi pulled her car into first, and followed the red car as they traveled along the route. Kichi pulled the car to the side as the red one moved along the road. Kichi hopped out the door.   
"I got an idea. Just follow and watch…"   
With that, she disappeared before Mattchu could say a word. He looked on at the rapidly disappearing car, before shifting over seats, and hesitating. He knew how to drive, but he had never done it while half raichu.   
{ Ah well, first time for everything..}, he thought, following at a slower speed behind the red car. 

Maureen continued on, unawares. Some faint relaxing music was playing through the stereo.   
( Something by someone who was either a freak or dead. ), she thought. It didn't matter. She continued on, silently. And then looked ahead as a female Raichu appeared in front of the car. 

The similarity was impressive. Maureen slipped into a preconception she was about to hit herself out there, and slammed the brake almost by instinct. Kichi acted like her life had been spared, and placed both hands on the bonnet, gasping realistically for breath.   
{ Maureen, you really want…that…sitting in front of your car? } another voice piped up. Maureen shoved it away.   
( That "thing" happens to look almost the same as me right now. You fancy running yourself down? )   
The voice shut up, and Maureen got out of the car. 

"Damn…You okay?" Here Maureen was, having conversation with what could double as her. She thought it was an illusion, but the best way to prove that was to interact with it. Kichi propped herself up.   
"Yeah…I'm fine, just heading home, got a bit startled on the run and stopped on the road…" 

Mattchu pulled up about three hundred yards away and surveyed. 

Maureen didn't want to be interacting with whatever the human race had become, but she realized this gal could be the same as her, I mean they looked identical, who could go far wrong there?   
"Need a lift anywhere, missy?"   
"No…I'll be fine…" She stepped forward, and spilled over again, placing paw-hand on the front of the car trying to steady herself. Mattchu wanted to jump out, but when Maureen moved forward to help Kichi up, Mattchu saw what she had been trying to do. 

( It's not this gal's day.. ) Maureen thought, as she moved forward to help the raichu that looked like herself. Kichi moved quickly, and in a split second lunged forward in a horizontal slash. Maureen was unseeing to this and two claws connected with her neck. Two deep gashes opened in the raichu fur, blood poured from them both, and Maureen fell forward onto her own paw hands. ( It's not my day either… ) she thought. Kichi reached to under the head of the morph and sliced three long vertical claws from the tip of the small nose to the base of the neck at the back. The morph, now dead, fell under her own arms, and hit the ground, blood still being poured out. 

"I believe that is a just end for such a person…" she muttered. Kichi fished her clothing for items as she laid there, a pool of blood growing around the other femme's head as she lay on the floor. She retrieved an ID tag, the evil nightstick, and she took the white coat Maureen wore, too. Then she pulled out her master ball from her pocket, and dropped it squarely into the large wound she caused. A flash of light, and the Kichi look-alike was inside the ball. She placed it back in her pocket, along with the other items, placed the bloodstained white coat on, and got into the car left. She turned it around, and drove back, so her front bumper faced the car Mattchu was sat in. 

Mattchu looked on, and almost clapped Kichi back to the car.   
"Very nice, I must say…" Mattchu looked at her. She grinned and did a nice dainty curtsey, before pointing out the stain on the coat.   
"This could be a problem - We have any water in the back there?" Mattchu opened the door, and got out. He then slipped around to the trunk and popped it open. He removed a medium-sized mixing bowl and a small amount of drinking water.   
"This will have to do, I think…" 

Kichi took the items and sat in the other car, before putting the water in the bowl and inserting the bloodstained part of the coat into the water. The water went red almost immediately, but Kichi rubbed at it with her paw-hand. The fur did good as a cleaning aid, and soon the water was a deep crimson, and the red that remained on the coat was just from the color of the water, and would disappear as the water dried out, she hoped. Since her paws were bound to be blood-coated, she washed them in the same, and shook them off coarsely. She hung the white scientist's coat on the front passenger seat of the alter morph's car and walked back to where Mattchu was. 

"Okay...Today is done, as I see...We need some rest, we have to go in at around 7-8am."   
Mattchu nodded, "But here, who will watch here?"   
Hayai's head popped forward, "I can do it."   
Mattchu jolted in surprise, "Ah, you're awake...Okay, you watch us here while we get our rest..."   
"Okay." He exited the car and sat on the roof, looking out in the barrenness of the night.   
Kichi headed back over to the other car and hopped in the back seat, laying sprawled in there. Mattchu stayed upright, and slept in that position. Kijutsu, not leaning against anything, ended up sprawled across the back seat too. 

Hayai sat on the car, and watched over them all, as the night drew on...   


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Day 7) - 6:45am 

15) - The Infiltration 

The morning sun beat down on Hayai as he laid on the car roof, half-asleep. Inside the car he was sitting on, Mattchu stirred lightly, before jolting awake. The deserted area behind them was completely visible to the horizon…it reached on all sides except one, which led to the city, and the solitary complex back where they were due to return to in a few short minutes. 

He got out of the car, and sweltered under the heat of the morn sun, as Hayai was doing.   
"I knew he would not stay awake… Doesn't matter, today is the day we move…" He clasped his left paw-hand into a fist. He knew that the doors to where they were heading would not open like the gates of heaven, they would have to be forced…   
Hayai woke on this, "Eh…I'm awake! Just resting my eyes…" He hopped off the car and went to wake Kijutsu up. Mattchu looked at Hayai doubtfully and then headed over to the other car. Kichi was awake, and looked like she had been for some time; the coat had dried and she was in the front passenger seat looking through the glove compartment. She looked up.   
"Awake at last…Well, I've been here, thinking how this will be done. We have any blankets packed with us?"   
"Hm… We have one, somewhere…" Mattchu commented, a light uncertainty tinged his voice.   
"We'll need it to get us all in. I'm fine, but 'Maureen' probably never brings in company. One shall be in the trunk, one in the foot gap in the back. And one will need to be on the seat covered with the blanket."   
"I'll do that… You're fine, everything else is…I assume Kijutsu needs the trunk because those wings don't let her into that gap…" 

A flock of birds flew overhead. Their constant squawking drowned out the attempts at continuation of the conversation between the two. There was a quick exchange of glances between the two, then back to the birds. Mattchu smiled. 

Kijutsu was in the back. She was slumbering sprawled in the back in the fetal position. The light shone through her feathered wings and gave them a rather luminous aura. Suddenly, a loud bang coming from the roof jolted her up.   
"What the hell…?" She looked outside. A dead Pidgey hit the roof, bounced off it, and landed in front of her. She turned to the two raichu'morphs, who stood watching the mini-shower of fried Pidgey pelt the car at stretched intervals, grinning like the raichus that they partly were.   
Hayai looked up, and dived out of the way of one. It lay on the floor, bleeding from the fall, lack of feathers that were probably fried also, glazed look-of-death over the eyes. He looked to Kijutsu, who had just stepped out of the car she had slept in. He gazed at the wings that shone in the sun like a halo, and imagined the scene he didn't need to see. He looked down at the Pidgey, and walked away back to where the two raichus stood, image gone from immediate thought and hopefully never to exist again… 

"That was one…interesting…wake up call…" Kijutsu commented as she steered around the dead birds and came up to the group.   
"I think we're ready for a few overgrown pokémon now, eh Kichi?" Mattchu was still grinning.   
"I'm sure they are too…Now get in, Kijutsu in the trunk, Hayai in the back on the floor, Mattchu in the back on the seat." She turned to get in, then looked back at Mattchu, unemotionally, "With the blanket, too." 

The blanket appeared in Mattchu's paw. He grinned again, and then got in the back, after Hayai. She had seen him speed over to the car, drag it out, and bring it back. He thought she wasn't noticing. She smiled an evil sort of smile, the one that says "You can't try to fool me", and shut the trunk where Kijutsu crouched, back in the fetal position about two minutes after she had woken up out of it. She fought the urge to sleep, again; she wouldn't be here for too long, she hoped… 

Mattchu wrapped himself up with the blanket and lay down on the seat, facing towards the front, on his side. He deliberately sat atop his tail; it hurt slightly to cramp it like that but it needed to be done so it didn't move and give him away involuntarily. 

Kichigai re-entered the car and started it up. The motor coughed loudly, but it ran reasonably fine. She headed off down the road, the Silph building not very far away in the first instance.   
As she approached the gate, he saw just one guard, a Growlithe. No doubt that there were shifts on this guard post, she had no idea when these were but she didn't need to. { This is the hard part, Kichi… The rest is easy… } 

She turned in to enter the building. The Growlithe; a quite tall morph with one of those army-like guard uniforms, and various markings on what wasn't masked by the uniform, he walked to the car.   
"Early start, eh Miss Wilkinson?" the guard noted, in a rather moderate voice. Kichi forgot where she was and who she was supposed to be for a split second, "Oh, yes… I have a lot to do today."   
"You normally do… That's why you appear half an hour early instead of two hours plus…"   
"I mean a lot more then usual. Otherwise I wouldn't be here at 7am. And I wouldn't have made a point of saying I had lots to do…"   
The guard faltered. This simple bit of obvious logic overcame him; they didn't teach logic in the Silph guard barracks… (So), he thought, (when you don't know what has just been said, just agree, nod, and say nothing more.)   
"Yes… True…" The guard went inside the hut, and pressed a button on the panel in there, marked in big letters: IN. The doors slid into their recessions inside the wall. "Have a good day, miss…"   
Kichi slid the car in at a fairly quick rate, and muttered to herself, ("Oh, don't worry about that, today will be good…") 

The car proceeded into the large outside area of the compound. Around were several parking gaps; most unfilled, as they should be at 7am. Kichi parked the car in a random spot next to some other cars, and shut off the engine as she climbed out.   
"You three wait here… I'm going to have to find some sort of guise for you before you can move in the compound…" Kichi said, as she opened the trunk and Kijutsu got out. Mattchu clambered between seats, Hayai got up and sat correctly on the back, Kijutsu joined him there.   
"You're fine to sit like that, we're in now - No guards coming right up to the car…But do get out of sight if anyone does appear; I think coming early was a good idea…"   
The three nodded their acknowledgements and the rai'femme lightly proceeded to a nearby entrance to the compound. She then entered silently, shutting the door behind her. Hayai and Kijutsu re-assembled into conversation, while Mattchu kept a watch, thinking to himself about various things… 

It wasn't much longer then 15 minutes before the door re-opened again to Kichi, who was carrying a wrapped bundle. She lightly slid back over to the car and tossed the load through the open passenger window onto Mattchu's lap.   
"Some cleaner's clothes… Mattchu is fine, Hayai can just pull his over the spikes; there's one with two cuttings on the back, that one is Kijutsu's… Goes over the connection between the wings and the back, the stripes don't fasten, I didn't want to take too long altering them…"   
They slipped the blue Silph-standard uniforms on. Kijutsu got one of the wings caught somewhere but Hayai sorted that out quickly. Kichi turned to walk back in, "And obviously, me with a group of 'cleaners' isn't much done… so follow me, but not too close - Don't want to look conspicuous, do we?"   
The three exited the car and waited until Kichi had got back to the exit, before they split and went in through the entrance right at the back in intervals. Hayai and Kijutsu stayed together, Mattchu went after. 

And so they entered the large place. It towered above like one of those skyscrapers of the city, like an island of gray, something symbolic of all that the city stood for, sitting in the middle of a deserted road on the route leading up to the nearby city. But the inside, Kichi noted, was white. Blue floor, with the shine of plastic. White walls with no shine but all straight and unmarked, no stray paint specks or anything… Doors on various sides of the fairly narrow corridor, with plain blue door labels on them. Names of people, scientists, the room, and a number, which probably was used as a computer-aid mapping system. The whole place was clean, probably because it wasn't busy at early hours. Doors filed past in rows as Kichi continued on, looking at each one, each one with Doctor someone or other on it. Kichi, or rather the person she was acting as, would have one… She located it, room number 26, on the first floor. Normally main offices were on higher floors. But the scientists would pop to their offices first thing in the morning and on the way out at night, it made a lot more sense to put them at the bottom. Kichi fished around inside the coat pockets and pulled out the ID that Miss Wilkinson was carrying when Kichi placed three blood stripes across her head. She viewed the door. It had a circular slit window with clear plastic on it. Behind was blackness; Kichi expected it was a blind. Under that were a handle and a thin slit. Kichi turned her ID over, and on there was a small arrangement of lines, dots, and impressions. She slotted it into the slit, there was an arrow on top that showed how, and a matching color one above the slit. It slid home, and Kichi heard a click. Opening the door, she removed the card and pressed in, silently closing it behind her, unwatched. 

The room was dark. Kichi fumbled on the wall to the left for a wall switch, paw hand scraping the wall as she found the switch, and flicked it. The room now lit, contained a desk, a filing cabinet, another room to the right, and two chairs. The femme sat at the chair at the back, and opened various drawers, looking through for some notes on her objective, which was Articuno. She found a forgotten layout of the center in the middle drawer, but nothing about where she was supposed to be heading. So, she got up, and edged over to the filing cabinet. There were 4 drawers, with labels on the front. The bottom three were blank and the top one read, "Data: 1999-2000". She flicked inside. It was bare, just a couple of folders at the back, and they contained useless garbage stuff, printouts of garbled computer data and suchlike. They were marked in red, "Cancelled" and following this, a stamped date. Kichi shut the folder, thought, and then searched the drawers again. Kichi sighed at finding nothing, and looked at the stapled copy of the layout of the Silph complex. No markings, other then what was typed on, and it was numbers. The odd initial, but mainly numbers. And the back page had what the numbers meant. But one was highlighted in pale yellow. The only other marking was a small ring, but that was this room. She read the highlight, which was carelessly done, but readable: "Room 58 - Gen. Lab 13." - Thirteen. Heh.…Kichi thought, today was when 13 became unlucky for some…She checked the map part, finding room 58 on the twelfth floor. That was marked, that was her destination. She stepped back to the door again, clicked off the light, and exited the room, closing the door behind her again. It clicked, locking automatically. She walked off to the left, heading towards the end of the long narrow corridor, there hopefully an elevator was. 

When Kichigai got there, it was still deserted. But she thought, with the number of people that are actually here, it isn't going to be busy on a lower level…She dragged her coat back up to her shoulder, it had lapsed there slightly, and she walked up to the elevator. She was getting out the card, fumbling in her coat's pocket again. She felt a paw clasp her shoulder. It was cold, and heavy - It felt like it was meant to restrain. She thought to herself, (No… I can't have been found out, can I?) On impulse she turned, sharply, and stared at the figure in front of her. 

Mattchu's familiar gaze went back at her, "Hm - Did I startle you?" Kichi resisted the urge to hit him again, and hissed back at him, "Don't ever do that again, okay? It's tense enough here…"   
Mattchu nodded, "Yeah, sorry… Well, going to the elevator means you know where we're headed…"   
Kichi shook her head, explaining, "There was nothing in her office. The only thing I found was a room highlighted on the map. Room 58. It's on the 12th floor, and it's Genetics Lab 13. That's where I'm headed, not sure if you can get that far…"   
"Should I just follow you? Not close like this, but just track you on the way there? I'm sure with the reduced number of morphs around, no-one will notice a humble cleaner enter a small room in the middle of floor 12…"   
"That's a good point…Sure, track me there - Do Kijy and Hayai know?"   
"Augh…I didn't find them. And I can't ask Sadame to tell them either…they dun have a pendant between them, so it's no good from here…"   
"Ah, well…I don't think we actually need 4 people to do it, I think if that lab is where they are, then this ID will do sufficiently to get there. But the way back will be hard. I bet there are lots of guards swarming around outside, that we didn't see. As soon as we try and get a full size Articuno out, we'll be noticed…"   
"So…how will we get him out?"   
"Try and pass him off as an anthro?"   
"How about we get the pendant and decide then…" Mattchu couldn't think of any way. But if they could get there fast enough, it would be sufficiently quiet. And when Articuno was outside, he'd just fly off. Bypassing the fence completely. It was almost guaranteed to work. And they'd be ahead of Senkouhi by a long throw now…   
"Okay then…Head different ways when we leave the elevator, and meet up inside the room. These genetic labs normally have warning lights, for things that people shouldn't really enter in. I don't expect it to be being used, so if there is a light on, come in. If not, wait for me, I haven't got there yet. And the door will most probably be locked anyway."   
Mattchu nodded, Kichi slipped the card into the slit next to the doors, and they both stepped into the elevator. The metal doors sealed on them, and the elevator started up.   
Kijutsu watched the elevator close, and walked up to it. She'd overheard the conversation, she thought she could be of some assistance, so she pulled the tag off her uniform and slotted it into the door slit. She waited for the elevator to reappear; it obviously wouldn't do so immediately, it was still carrying the rai'morphs up. Hayai appeared as she was waiting there, the elevator reappeared, and both stepped in. The doors resealed themselves again. 

Mattchu headed right, Kichi headed forward. Kichi just had to get where she was going; Mattchu needed to give the impressions he was here to do something other then break into a lab, get to one of the rarest birds on the face of the earth, and get out again… Quite how things would go while inside was purely up to impulse, but he almost instinctively knew something had to go wrong. Because enough experience when he trained Mashu had told him Murphy's Law didn't falter when you really wanted it to. For this reason, he watched his step cautiously as he tracked around the rooms, checking off numbers in his head working them in reverse order. 71, 70, 69…they progressed back. The corridor continued down, a similar corridor to the downstairs, they were all similar…It was monotony, you could get easily lost in a place like this…Every corridor looked the same as every other…Mattchu was beginning to suffer from the disorientation of the same door passing by each time, until he reached the end, turned it. There was a large area, and a pair of doors, with GenLab13 marked on them. A 58 was in the right corner, and the light was off. He knew this was the place…not like there were enough visual guides, but Kichi hadn't got here yet, so he waited around… 

Kichi got there about a minute later. There was no one around; indeed, Mattchu doubted anyone was within three floors of them at that moment…so he was quite okay to follow Kichi into the room. The doors sealed behind them.   
"Well…" Kichi looked around. It was a conjoining room, a desk with a computer at it, and a set of riveted metal double doors at the back, with a small window cut into them. A typical holding area for live subjects, Mattchu thought. Especially those as able as the Legendary Trio…   
Kichi sat at the desk and pushed paper around, looking for something.   
"Nothing here I can find which gives more info… I assume we can find more in the next room…"   
Mattchu thought, "Doors that size are needed to keep people out, I assume… Could be to keep something in…"   
Kichi laughed, "If anything, it's what we're looking for… Come on, we want to be out of here in real fast time… "   
The femme strode up to the door, and out flew the ID again. The slit was ever-present, and Kichi shoved the card in. A bleep noise went, and then the door clicked open. Kichi gripped the handle lightly.   
"Remember, we go in and we come out with an Articuno…" Kichi said. Mattchu nodded, and Kichi opened the door. A blast of cold air came from the door, but that was just a depressurization of the room. But for what purpose was it depressurized…   
"Prevent decontamination… For this is a genetics lab, after all…" Kichi said, without thinking. They continued in, and closed the large door behind them. It gripped the moorings of the frame tight, and sealed the room again. The passage moved across, they followed it along… 

Eventually, they reached a larger area. The air smelt strange and musky, almost sickly. Mattchu coughed once from it. Kichi examined the area. There were three doors, marked: 1, 2, 3 - On the wall next to each were three monitor screens, which showed lines running across a screen.   
"Vital signs…I think we've found them, Mattchu…" Kichi examined the screens. They were moving rather weakly; Kichi guessed this had gone on for a while. She pushed the ID into the first one. The door swooshed open to the same smoke. 

Inside, there was a bed. A large blue bird pokémon lay on it, unawares someone had some in. He looked up, noticed Kichi, and sat bolt up immediately.   
Oh god…No, it's okay, I'm awake, and still alive and such…>>   
Kichi entered the room, more like a cell. The large bird, probably about Kichi's height and not even morphed, edged away.   
"I'm not who I look like… The woman with the bad stick, she's gone…"   
The articuno looked up to her, "But…so who are you?"   
Mattchu entered the room, "We're here to get you out…"   
Articuno's eyes sparkled. "Out…Finally…We've been in here for years…myself, and the other two of our trio…You needn't try getting to them now, both of them have severely lost it in the head…It's the dope we were drugged with, it limits our abilities and renders us unable to escape…but it also causes the mind process to break down…They just attack on sight now, and Dr Wilkinson is so proficient with that nightstick…as I know well…" He stood, and screeched silently, before standing up.   
"You probably came just in time… I knew they were going to do something today, and it wouldn't have been good…"   
Kichi walked to the front of him, "You wouldn't happen to still have the pendant, would you…?"   
Articuno's eyes glazed, "…How did you know about that?"   
"Simple…" Kichi held her own pendant from under the collar of her coat. "Same with Mattchu there…"   
"Sorry to hurry…but could we get out of here? I hate the smell of this place…"   
Kichi headed back down the passage, "Sure…" Mattchu and Articuno followed them down. She got to the door, opened it, they all treaded through, Kichi sealed it again.   
"Right… We need to find the other two, and then leave…"   
The two nodded, Kichi headed for the door. Before she got there, she saw from the window someone outside. A flash of Arcanine fur brushed past the window. Kichi gasped. The guards had come on duty…Kichi looked around the room quickly for a clock. It was 9:10am. They had misplaced a lot of time, and that was going to cost them… Now they would have to forcefully break out… Mattchu saw the look on Kichi's face as she looked for the clock, and read it instantly,   
"Shit…Arti, the guards are out again…Means things are going to get slightly rough from here, but don't worry, we'll make it out…" Mattchu said to him.   
He nodded, "Until that stuff's last dosage wears off, I can't do anything to help, I'd just get in the way…And that's set for tonight, when finally they'd do what they were planning…But now they won't get to…" 

Kichi sat down at the desk, Mattchu and Articuno sat on chairs in front of the desk, and prayed the guard didn't look in the window, or they'd have to move then, before they found Hayai and Kijutsu…   
After a while, Kichi thought to herself; she got up, walked around Mattchu, and peeked through the slit in the door.   
"Hayai and Kijutsu aren't going to find us, evidently… So I guess we have to go out and find them. Or… rather I have to, since I'm the only one of us that can move around without looking inconspicuous…"   
She beckoned to the others to stay there, before pulling the blind down, and turning back to the other two, "I'll lock this from outside… Just sit in here and I'll be back…" 

Mattchu nodded, Articuno just looked up and then sank back into thoughts again. Kichi shut the doors and slid the card back into the lock mechanism. A metallic click gave the sign of the door locking, she turned and set off looking for the other two. Both Articuno and Mattchu thought of things as they waited… 

Elsewhere on the floor, Hayai and Kijutsu moved about, getting a couple odd looks from guards, but most of them thought that they couldn't have got this far up the building without permission anyway, and the right ID. So they were left, under unseeing watch from the guards.   
Kichi turned around the corner where they were walking, and she walked up to them. 

"Been looking for you two… We found the Articuno, now all we need to do is get out. I'll take you to where Mattchu and Arti are, and then we have to force through…"   
The two nodded, silently, and followed Kichi as she turned and led back through the narrow corridors, heading back for the room where she had left not long previously. 

They didn't speak a lot while they sat in the room. Mattchu was busy contemplating ways of egress from the building, Articuno was busy thinking of how lucky he was to not be in that small little cell thing any more, and his thoughts were circled around that…   
He had said the other two had lost it, indeed they had; but so had he, a small amount. He knew he was almost dependant on the closed space to maintain normality… and so he wondered what he would do when he got back out… 

Before he could add to this, the door clicked and Kichi poked her head inside.   
"Found them… Now, we need to get out, and we haven't got the easiest task ahead, but we can always try…" Mattchu stood up, the Articuno uneasily doing so also, clumsily moving along on his talon-tipped bird-feet. When the five looked as though it was possible for them to get out of here when they would have to try, they headed out and went towards the elevator, in their group. They all knew they would get noticed, it seemed like fate, they had to get out of here with a fight and they would damn well do so. 

Sure enough, as the group reached the elevator, a rather hasty sounding voice called from behind them.   
"Now, exactly what is this little façade…?" said the voice.   
The group turned, standing behind them were three guards; an Arcanine and two Growlithes, carrying nightsticks, the sight of which made Articuno recoil slightly. Kichi turned and looked at them.   
"Ms. Wilkinson… Exactly what is this?" he said, looking right at her. "And exactly where are you going with the articuno? You're supposed to be keeping them there until tonight…"   
Kichi looked at him, piercingly.   
Mattchu stepped to him, "Can I have a word with you for a second?"   
The guard looked bemused, as Mattchu walked up to him, "You see, we're here to do something very important, and you wouldn't want to stop that, now would you…"   
The next scene only Kichi saw as Mattchu raced to him and got behind him, before jabbing into each side of his neck with the index claw on each paw, and proceeding to feed the Arcanine with electricity as he drilled in with the claws. The Arcanine started to convulse, the wounds started to let blood out and it splayed into the air and became as drops on either side of the corridor as he shook. The other guards stood and watched as he did this, unable to move, and as the Arcanine continued to shake, Mattchu continued pushing in with his impaled claw. Not long after, he stopped, and let go of the morph, he slumped to the ground, and continued to convulse with the electricity. The holes pushed into the side of his neck began to gush out, either side of the walls and the ceiling was coated in a red spray, and Mattchu walked back to his place among the morphs, Hayai thinking to himself…   
The Growlithes looked at each other, then at the group, and then turned and ran. Mattchu smiled, the sweetness of success filling his every thought, and they stepped into the elevator, and the doors closed as Kijutsu pushed the button on the side.   
As they descended, alarms rang from outside the elevator.   
"I think we're going to have to prepare for a long welcome back to the first floor..." Hayai pointed out. As the elevator   
stopped, the doors started to move open, before doing so, with a bell ding sounding then. Standing in front of them were quite   
a lot of guards.   
Hayai and Kijutsu, who were at the front because of how they had got into the elevator, looked to each other, and dived out at   
the nearest two, while Mattchu and Kichi disappeared and two unsuspecting morphs developed rather fatal claw marks on their   
heads. Another dual Raichu double kill... And that was the signal for the rest of them to attack, Articuno idling out of the   
elevator and walking straight into a guard.   
"Erm..." The guard pulled up a nightstick, before Hayai dived up behind it and knocked him forward against Arti, who gave a   
loud cry and the morph, a Sandshrew, suddenly became frozen. Articuno stood himself up, regained composure, before   
kicking the now frozen ground morph over, where he shattered like so much broken glass. The ice god took to the air, and   
headed forward, feeling better for himself already. 

On the forefront, Mattchu was laying hell to a couple guards. As forces collided, the imbalance was obvious; one attempt at   
hitting him with the nightstick resultedin the nightstick appearing in Mattchu's paw.   
"Now then..." laying a couple of blows to the head of one on the left, lacerating straight away; pausing only to claw into the   
second one, brushing his nightstick as he did so, three very unwanted clawmarks in it because of that, three more in the guard   
a second later, and he crumpled and went down, the damage done. Another two came up, and the first one had the nightstick   
shoved partly down his throat. Receiving a scratch for his effort from the guard, an Arcanine, he cut the fancy stuff and just   
slit his throat at the front. Tossing the morph onto the other, who was having trouble moving him then, Mattchu dealt him an   
equally severe clawing, and continued forward, the stream of morphs to kill seeming to never end... 

Kichi was having about as much luck as Mattchu was. Facing three guards, one grabbed her arm. She scrabbled to get it free   
as the other two drew onto her, raising her feet-paws at them to impede their coming. As she did this, the guard behind her let   
go, she had gotten free, but was now going to end up on the floor, which wasn't good. So, thinking fast, she pushed off on the   
ground and moved forward into a guard. Then she pushed down, and somersaulted, ber back claws leaving deep gashes that   
ran the full length of the guard. The Sandslash fell back, Kichi landed on her feet, and clawed at the midsection of the   
Pikachu that faced her then. 

Mattchu, I recommend we forget fighting and head out.. >> Kichi shouted over the ruckus that was the battlefield. Guards   
lay torn to either side, some were beaten and bruised but still fighting, and even Mattchu, Hayai, and Kijutsu were getting   
scuffed up in this battle. She turned, and went into a clawing spar with a Meowth that faced her then.   
Kijutsu nearby was also hacking guards off at the seams, she was being forced backwards but quickly formed a ball of ice   
and launched it forward, it hit another Growlithe who was only slightly dazed; a quick clawing to the head saw to that, she   
continued on, trying to move outside through all the carnage. 

Hayai, in his innocent state, was busy thundershocking guards that came, from every whch way, before he started to make a   
rather dark energy-filled ball, leaning against a wall, hopefully out of harms way. Some guards not immediately involved   
noticed him, and headed over, he pushed the ball forward and it flew through the air like a bullet, parting it, before running   
through the first three guards, and getting absorbed by a fourth. That fourth was gripped by it, and managed to stumble   
around aimlessly, the dark waves sapping his very life, until his passive screams had distracted all attention of the nearby   
fighers, who turned and watched the pulsing of he and the energy, as it tore into him and his very personage as effectively as   
one could expect. Blood was trickling from the young Growlithe's head, emitting from the ears, nose, and to a degree from the   
eyes.. His screams stopped, and instead he looked straight forward, eyes gone red, a welling of blood rage behind those, but   
never to be used.. for it was at that moment the dark energy chose it's time to vacate, and the morph simply.. exploded, for   
want of a better word... The group or morphs nearby were coated in blood, about 6 guards took that moment to throw up,   
violently. The group took that opportunity to file outside, Articuno taken to the air. They filed outside amongst chaos, and ran   
for the car.   
"We're in better stead if we get in the car.." Mattchu noted. There weren't as many guards out here; in fact there were   
none. But they knew that would soon change. 

They piled into the car, normal seating; Kichi and Mattchu up front, Hayai and Kijutsu down back, Articuno took to sitting on   
top of the car, as Kichi started it up.   
"We have that door to get back through yet.." Mattchu said.   
"We'll come to that as we do.." Kichi said, quickly. Already the remaining guards from inside were beginning to exit, and   
were sprinting towards the car as fast as they could go.   
Kichi started it up, and the car jumped into life perfectly, and they headed off towards the entrance. A couple of guards that   
were there suddenly became the target for Kichi, as one was bumped hard and scraped across the floor with the force, the   
other tried to run but stumbled and landed on the floor, just in time to watch the oncoming car... 

The car jolted, twice. Neither Hayai or Kijutsu wanted to look back at he who had just been killed; of course it wouldn't be   
nice...   
"Remember... They wouldn't blink about doing the same to us..." Kichi consoled from the front, knowing Kijutsu was feeling a   
little tired of the situation, as indeed she herself was.. 

The car reached the gate, it was shut, so Kichi went to go out. Kijutsu opened her door, and got out.   
"No, I'll do this.. " Kichi nodded, as Kijutsu headed over to the guard box on the other side of the large gate. She peeked   
inside. There was a few buttons, switches, and things, and a noticeable small handle marked "Open". Being the gifted mind she   
was, it didn't take a second before she saw that what needed to be activated, and she pulled it down. The doors started to   
slide open almost instantly. 

Kijy didn't see it; but most of those in the car did. From seemingly nowhere sprung up an Eevee guard.   
"Right, you..." Kijy spun around instantly, the Eevee went for a blow to her with his weapon.   
Articuno was first on the mark. He took to the air, and rushed at the Eevee, who turned into the agile articuno as it swung   
past, and was taken backwards by it. But, he kept his composure, and dealt the blow to Articuno again. He reeled, and Kijy   
jumped at the Eevee, claws bared, and he didn't move fast enough. As a Persian would, she dealt the standard claws to the   
face a few times, and jumped back, he hadn't gone back, so she had to watch she didn't land on the fallen Articuno. The   
Eevee did fall back over, and Kijy pulled out her master ball. It slipped from her grip slightly, and thus didn't travel as she   
threw it. 

Instead, it landed on the recovering Articuno. 

In a way, for Articuno, it was release. Release from his own experiences at the hands of Ms. Wilkinson, and his time in the   
small room that had been his place of accommodation for so long... Except, no, it wasn't release just yet, because he was still   
wearing the pendant. His last conscious thought for that time, { For Mew's sake, don't let her pick the ball up... } 

The energy intake ceased, and the ball clunked against the hard ground. Kijy stepped over the ball, wearily, and tapped it with   
a foot-paw claw. It moved slightly left, and then stopped. The Eevee lay bleeding, KOed, on the floor in front of it. Kijy   
ignored him and picked up the ball, before walking back to the group. 

"Well.. We got what we came for, the door is open, and now, I think we leave..."   
"Hm... What about the pendant...?" Mattchu asked, knowledgeably.   
"Er..." Kijy began. The ball glowed a faint icy blue. And then, so did Kijutsu. She stepped back.   
"That's what, Matt..." Kichi said, solemly, and watched. 

Watched because that's all they could do. Kijutsu dropped to her knees, arms forward, wings jolted forward over the arms.   
Inside her head she was becoming detached, she could hear herself breathing, it was hard, heavy, echoing. To watch her,   
though you couldn't make out a shape for the glow, you could be watching, and you knew what was coming... 

[ They're trying hard to negate the pendants effects... Articuno, Jinkei, Kijutsu... But I don't know if they can stop it.. ]   
{ This is similar to Choukou in an equal position.. }   
[ Not really, but I see what you mean... ] 

Mattchu looked at Kichigai. She was just watching, waiting, knowing.. Except this time no-one was at blame, and that made it   
so much worse, in a way...   
To blame, to make someone responsible for something bad happening, so seems to make someone feel better, as they know   
fully what has happened... But in this case, one accident led to a mishap led to Kijutsu picking the ball up.. 

And for Kijutsu... Stuck between two places, everyone that could was straining against that which the pendant would bring   
about... but the largest force was driving her in... Away from everything, and into the forgotten memories of a weakened ice   
deity...   
As her arms; rather, the glow around where she had last had her arms, started to disperse, she fell forward, letting out a   
small cry, unheard to all but herself... As she lay sprawled on the ground, barely feeling anything, the feeling of being ejected   
from her own existence swamped her thoughts, and she just lay there, trying with what was left of her thoughts to avoid, in   
ways she didn't know.. 

Her wings grew out, slowly, but obviously larger, both height and span.. That which once was a Persian coil tail, suddenly   
wasn't, and became as the Articuno tail, the three feathers poking their different directions, still grasped in the light of her   
that was glowing..   
And inside her head.. thoughts, feelings.. an attempt to lock those away was being made, she had submitted herself to it, and   
now that which they were trying to save was now going to imprison her forever... She resisted, but it was only a matter of   
time...   
Also there.. Jinkei, and Articuno.. trying for the same cause but even the strongest of attempts would be futile in such   
circumstance... They continued to try, relentless... 

And subjected to watch as her body and mind was put through torment, was her alter, Kichigai.. And even had she wanted to,   
nothing was able to be done.. 

Kijutsu was close to losing herself forever... but she continued trying to resist.. before it just... ceased, as quickly as it begun.   
The glow dispersed, the struggle inside her head over not forgotten.. 

And the last word she thought in that consciousness vigil, it was "Yes."   


---   
  


(eh.. fun point to leave you off, ne..? Compliments, praise, death threats, weird bits of writing that may make no apparant sense at all... Doesn't matter, drop it in, I'm glad people read this as it is, be nice and just give me a sign it was done...) 


	4. Chapters 16-20: A weird start makes for ...

(Here we go.. The last upload.... A year in writing and this is finally done o.o - Enjoy, please..)   
  
  


Day 7 - Around 10am

16) - Survival to Those it Merits   


The car rolled quickly on towards the large city that wasn't as close as it seemed. Inside, the scene was as thus: the front contained Mattchu and Kichigai, the latter was driving, but her reactions were erratic, and Mattchu was trying to coerce her to swap seats for a while so she could calm..

"I'm fine.. I'll keep us going..."

So she stayed..

And seated in the back, there was Hayai, who was nestled in the corner and semi-asleep, and lying over the rest of the space with her feet towards Hayai was the rather different looking Kijutsu..

It was still Kijutsu; of that they were sure.. But they thought that she would be completely consumed by he that was in the ball when Kijutsu picked it up.. and though she was mostly consumed by it, she was still her, and of that everyone was glad..

The events of earlier today were getting to everyone; Hayai especially, as it isn't every day that he caused someone to die in such a prolific manner as he did before.. However, this was past, and so needed to be laid over by the passage of time..   


They headed towards the near city; Miami; they were not being tailed from the Silph building, and they knew they wouldn't be, as anyone who witnessed the fight that took place would certainly not subject themselves to a possibility of it, even for the company they work for... However, Mattchu was thinking about the other two birds; what would come of them... He didn't know, though he felt he should..

Sadame had no insight; how could she, while she had insight on where Senkouhi was, and various aspects about Kichigai, and now Kijutsu, there was still the last pendant; that of fire..

"It is located in the city.. but it doesn't have anyone in possession of it just yet.."

So therefore, they didn't know exactly who they were looking for, that would have the pendant. But, they knew it was here, they would just have to hope it found them..   


As they arrived on the outskirts of the city, the outlook changed; what once was free and uncaptive became buildings, pieces of metal, tall buildings, and other cars as they moved in; the typical inner city bustle, alive with anthro pokémon, sure enough, but alive all the same.. Like nothing had ever happened..   
Kichigai didn't believe that things could go on so ignorantly.. but then, they had to carry on as they were if they could, as no other way was known...

[ That's probably because that's exactly the truth, Kichi... ] Jitsu noted.

Such thoughts were for later; right now, everyone was exhausted, it would be in the interests of the group to sleep. Mattchu noted this, turning to Kichi as she watched the road, it's endless horizon cut short by the tangle of buildings that had sprung from nowhere as they had travelled along.

"I'm not too fond of us continuing along just after that battle, Kichi... You think we should pull somewhere and sleep..?"   
She replied, ne-er a glance going his way, "You're aware they're going to be after us.. We have to put distance into the city first, or we'll get found.."   
Mattchu rolled down the window, and stuck his head out, looking backwards, "Well, I dunno what your rearview tells you, but I don't see anyone.."   
Kichi looked to the rearview mirror; slightly tarnished it was, but it was lived with... And sure enough, what could be seen of the horizon through the heated back-glass was just...endless...stretching 180 degrees in the visible arc..   
"...Okay, then... against my better judgement, we can rest off then..." Kicih noted, as she depressed the break, and the old car screeched to a stop. They were still outside the cuty, and this area was quite large; deserted, but space aplenty, being that a group of buildings just ahead had been demolished, probably not long ago, and there was an expanse of space where people had cleared out things... It was almost like one of those playgrounds of yore, the metalwork left of the buildings that weren't any more, coupled with the masses or tarmac-grey floor.. Such things held little importance to the two, as they settled back in the car and slept a troubled resting sleep.. Hayai and Kijutsu were asleep in the back, that sporadic anthromorphic combustion technique had cost Hayai a very decent bit of his mental reserves...

Sleep would do them well...   
  


7 hours later..   


An unknown training area, somewhere near - Inside, it was dark, the lights having been busted up, visible by the showers of old-lying broken glass under long hangings that were the normal housing for fluorescents.. The area had a dark, residual smell; for the events that took place here just a week ago were not pleasing ones...   
This placed had been a pokémon gym, some of the stronger pokémon had trained here.. The only thing was, this could be told from the mess left around; at the time of the change these stronger ones had been left in a state of bewilderment, and this had caused them to do what many did; fight.. And the room was decorated with the odd splash of blood, as he who was in residence here had not taken the time to clean...

Standing in a corner of the area, lit under his own light, stood a brightly-furred morph, who was doing some punchbag training, knocking it quickly to a rhythm set in his own head; one intangible as to not be followed by any onlooker, though even among the darkness the morph would have probably heard any such being..   
Fur brushed fur and also canvas as he dealt many blows to the bag; it moving on each blow, being sent into a spin by a kick, stopped with maybe another...   
For these are the steps to take to make sure one was not maimed on leaving this place; something which he had watched happen in this room itself, and did not wish to fall victim to. So, avoiding this fate meant making oneself strong enough to cope. Which is what he was training for..   
{You know that's not the only reason you are training..} he thought to himself as he laid in with quick one-two punching to the object designed for such purpose. It wasn't, really.. he knew what he was here for, and he knew where he'd go when he finished...

Punch followed punch, kick followed kick, both followed each other in the quick succession of blows dealt to thing as he stood. Knowing he wasn't likely to get this close to he who he would fight was no consolation; it ideally served to make each blow count. And bags weren't designed to take multiple beatings from an anthromorphic..

And then, it was time. You just knew it was, no-one would come with a bell, traditional parting message you here there "Time, gentlemen, please" - but then that was a previous existence, and this was now, and in the now period you trusted your instincts, for they were possibly the only things definitely on your side... So was the way, he guessed... but he wasn't getting pre-occupied, he gave the lifeless bag another kick, it danced like a spaz as he did, then he walked away from it, towards the door; if the bag coulda talked, it would probably have been glad, the way he was hitting that thing at the end...

He made his way out of the building, and headed for his next destination, which was one of the central roads leading through this city. Walking along past tall buildings, ne'er getting a glance from anyone around, he moved towards the main road; the place he and his foe had seen each other. A challenge, issued in the normal way by him; no self-respecting anthro turned it down, but it never was a fight to the death, and Kaen was never sure why...

And he continued walking, for fate lay on his path..   
  


Another 2 hours later

Sleep had kept them for a good 9 hours, well this was for them; they deserved the rest... but as is known, such sleep does not go without an awakening.. and this one was rather untimely...   
Kichi was asleep on the wheel of the car; it wasn't too comfortable, but what was confort when you're stuck in this... Comfort was unconsciousness, it sould have been a longer period, but for the simple fact of a breaking windscreen that showered both the femme morph, and Mattchu, in bits of shattered windowglass. Kichi was woken instantly, and jerked back up and against the backrest of the seat. The whole of the visible area was...wwell, it wasn't visible any more... It was alive, there were many many morphs crowding the area all around the car..   
The noise that filtered through the open windscreen woke Hayai, who pulled himself off of the floor, where he had gone to sleep, as Kijy was lying fullsprawl along the back seat.. He gazed around at the sea of people that they were marroned in the middle of..   
"When the hell did THIS become the latest tourist attraction?" he asked, half-asleep still..   
Mattchu awoke, gradually, to the sound of a pidgeot morph peeking into the car.   
"Shit... Er, sorry about the windscreen, and all... it looked harder then it was.."   
"Err...." Mattchu muttered half-heartedly, and turned to Kichi, "So then, got any guesses?"   
Kichi looked at him with an air of rhetoricism, "You think I'd know..?"   
Mattchu turned back up to the windscreen, "Ey, you know why everyone's out here right now..?"   
The same pidgeot popped his head back in from upside down, "Yeah - There's a fight on soon, be starting in a while.. Fights are always fun to watch and all.. You get a good view of the arena from up here, also.."   
Kichi and Mattchu looked simultaneously towards both doors, which were packed, then they looked to the windscreen.   
"Well, you going out first?" Mattchu asked. Hayai piped up from the back, "I'll stay here with Kijy - She wouldn't be able to go clambering over that lot, not right now anyway..."   
"Which leaves us two, as normal.." Kichi pulled herself up and out through the hole where the windscreen used to be, her steps knocking away bits of glass. Mattchu did the same, narrowly missing nicking himself on a piece hanging from the top, but he stood up, and with Kichi he looked around for the arena; that of which a 'good view' could be obtained from up on the car..

The area was busy; the sort of crowd that made people feel intimidated, no matter if they were the large bulky Rhydon morph that stood several metres away, or if they were a small 10-year old pichu, who was somewhere in the crowd, or you'd have expected one to be, there were enough different types to facilitate it..   
The ground moved in many different colours as the crowd did the regular crowd thing; each individual vying for a place nearer to the action..   
Clouds billowed overhead like bits of cotton-ball, the night sky was evident, but no stars were visible, thanks to tons of waste put into the atmosphere by the people of the cities around here..   
Mind, nothing doing to blame ignorants, Sadame thought, as she pondered all of this from her position..   
{ What are we actually doing here...? } she thought to herself.. { What is running through Senkouhi's head, what would he do if he managed to succeed in killing off the group.. }   
She dispelled the thought from her mind; such things were not to be considered. The group would not fail, she was sure..

She wanted to be sure; but the knowledge Tetsuya passed to her untryingly told her that things may not go all like that... And she ignored this for now; it ate at the back of her mind where she relegated it to, there it stayed..

The crowd was as widespread as the eye wanted to see... but there was one place untouched, a circle, and it seemed to be around the center; anyone would have seen this was the arena, but Kichigai and Mattchu were a long way away from it, and the crowd didn't look like it was one of those that would move just because two raichu had a need to see what all this was about; as most of them needed the same thing, and they weren't going anywhere...

Mattchu stepped from off the car, and Kichi followed. Mattchu set to thought; the easiest way to get through a lot of people... Well, the way it was always done normally, is one would just push... But the couple of rock'morphs that were looking the other way said to him that that wasn't a very good option.

Kichi, instead, suggested just zipping into any spaces left, as quick as necessary... they could do that, and in a crowd of this size, spaces large enough for people to weave through appeared all the time... Of course, they normally disappeared at around the same time, but the opportunity was there... and they looked both ways, ready, scanning for the first step in their move..

It came, one of those aforesaid rock pokémon moved slightly. A thin gap was left.   
"Go!" Kichi shouted, her words were carried with her as she went for it, Mattchu after. They both had to duck to get under, but from there, the move was on..

Moving faster then most of the others in the crowd could track, the two raichus took advantage of as many spaces as would be allowed.. Mattchu nearly crashed headfirst into another raichu'morph who had moved slightly in the way at a speed almost comparable to Mattchu's. Instead, our resourceful rai just sprung up and over off the floor, turning once in the air just because he could, once again only seen by Kichi..   
{ Showoff.. } she thought, and moved on..

After a minute or two of this, they came out in spaces about two rows from the front. From here, their slightly hindered view gave them a small look into the arena.   
Inside they could see three figures; one was standing near the outside, the oher two were standing at opposite ends of the circle, doing something.   
{ Warming up, I expect.. } Sadame thought for Mattchu. { This is a fight, after all.. }

Mattchu tried to gain some space forward, in doing so he accidentally knocked a similar-sized Sandslash forward. He stumbled, and fell forwards, stepping forward to try and regain his balance.

Suddenly, he didn't have a head any more. A Scyther, the figure who was the one standing near the outside, skidded to a halt. Kichi and Mattchu had seen that, the Scyther had just ran through, and lopped through the small morph's head.   
"Uh... Oops?" Mattchu said to Kichi. She just shook her head, "Not you, him.."   
She pointed to the Scyther, who walked to the now-gap in front of Mattchu.   
"I only said that many times, no crossing the line while we have the fighters in here, please!" he lamented to the crowd in the vicinity, who had gone quiet. Mattchu moved forward to fill the gap, Kichi followed, and Mattchu got a better look of the combatants.

They differed in size greatly. One was about Mattchu's height, a seemingly ordinary ninetales morph who seemed a little off-colour in that he was more colour-alike to a vulpix then a ninetales. The other, a foot taller then he, dressed all in a black cloak, nothing else visible from this angle..   
"Kichi... This looks to be a mismatch... I don't see how the 7 foot one can lose, really..." He tried to put a foot over the line, it was cramped, and the scytherblade was against his neck the next he saw.   
"Coming any closer, ratboy?" the distinctly jeering voice beckoned.   
"No... I was just wondering about this fight.. it doesn't seem really fair as it looks..."   
"As it looks, maybe not... But these two have been fighting each other for a while... both have beaten each other before, yes.. Of course.. I have faith in the big guy, course.. I mean, he HAS had the prize the longest.."   
"..There's a prize in for this..?" Mattchu asked.   
"Oh, yeh... Look here.." He drew his right arm up, the blade chinking the floor, and draped on it was a pendant, that Mattchu knew on sight, and Kichi too..   
It was the last pendant; an engraving adorning the front emblazoned to the fire it was representative of; Moltres.. that one which was never found..   
"..hm.. Interesting..." Mattchu looked, knowing what he was going to do next. He flicked his own, almost identical pendant,m around, so it was out over his shirt. The scyther looked at it as he did so. "Looks similar to this, wouldn't you agree..?"   
The scyther looked dubious, "Just... just hang on there for a minute, I'll be back in a second..." And with that, he rushed along the ground, feet not even looking like they touched the floor; which they possibly didn't, but that wasn't important.. approaching the tall morph, who bent to listen a sec, before glancing in the direction of the two raichus, still not a lot visible under that black hood of his, except maybe a snout.. then the scyther was back with them again, and all was as it was.   
".. Could you stick around after they finish up here... enjoy the fight, and all... Damian wants a word after, dunno if Kaen will, but they follow each other anyway, and I follow Damian, so..yeh, After.." he muttered to the rais, half-caring, as he moved back to where he'd just been, nodding th the black-clothed one as he went. Mattchu put obvious names together in his head, and waited for this fight to begin.

After the longest time, the two finally moved, now standing in the center of the 20 metre ring. The smaller one hesitated for a second, then just after Kim moved away, he lunged at the other, Damian. Hope this was worth the wait, a lot of the crowd thought at that time. The ground under where he ran was slightly blackened; of course being a fire pokémon matchup, the whole ring was going to become black like that.. Damian slipped to the right, Kaen overstepped and went off in that direction, Damian turning to face. Kaen came to a stop not far away, and turned back around again. Paws came together quickly, trailing small amounts of fire, the same as the ones behind the fire attack just fired, which went towards Damian, not really all that fast... but enough. It hit Damian, very expectedly, dispersing off the cloak, leaving no trace that the attack had even hit at all. Kaen didn't seem all that surprised really, he just continued with his assault, or attempt of thus.   
"Sneaky, huh? That thing could take a fire blast full-on and not be damaged. Sooner or later he's gonna remember to aim for the head, or not to use elemental attacks..."   
Matt, who had been distracted by the fight, whipped his head around to see Kim standing next to him.   
{I didn't even see him move...} he realised... His thoughts were cut short when the guy next to him, a Bulbasaur, who had actually worked quite hard to get to his front-row position, started to make a complaint to Kim about him being in his way, but was impaled before he could get two words out. Mattchu said nothing, and went back to watching the fight.

The fight hadn't progressed much from there, Kaen had tried a couple of odd blows, Damian had edged aside again; while he was doing plenty of moving away, you didn't see him try to put many of a hit back.. The blows glanced off, water wouldn't have done much more here.. The feeling was given that he was merely playing with the comparatively tine Ninetales, though this was supposed to be a proper match, and Kim said he had won at some previous point.. It seemed hard to believe looking at them that Kaen had ever won at all..   
"Don't let them fool you." Kim said, apparantly reading Mattchu's thoughts. "They're both messing just now.. Maybe they'll be in the mood to fight properly in a small while.. for now, though..." He turned back to the fight, Mattchu had not done otherwise.

The avoidance battle dredged on.. Kaen would throw in an attack, and Damian would either step aside if it was physical, or the cloak would take it if it was fire. All well and good, but the crowd were starting to get restless, and even Kim was getting bored. Kaen stopped, he was on the opposite side of the ring right now. Another quick fire attack, it looked so aimed for the only place a hit could register thus; the head. Damian flung up an arm, the blow hit SOMETHING other then the cloak.... but still, nothing, yes... Mind, at least the crowd now knew he had arms..

The temperature around was still high, if there were any morphs particularly sensitive to heat, they'd possibly have fainted already by now; the battle wasn't going anywhere by the looks of it, as Kaen ran forward to shoulder-blow Damian; faster speed this time, it looked like it wanted to be a clean hit.. And, unsurprisingly, it was. Damian stepped back, crouching; for all the difference someone of his height crouching would make, of course.. To Mattchu the crouching spelled out FREE HIT in large flashing neon letters... He wondered if Kaen would think the same way. Kichigai, however much Mattchu was forcing himself to stay here while the battle ended, was bored. Mattchu saw this, and thought that something needed to happen right about now...

It did, mostly. Kaen rushed forward again, the now-crouched Damian still able enough to be kicked, and while crouched, the head seemed like the better target; so that's what he kicked for when he got to Damian. The crouched morph simply grabbed Kaen's leg as it travelled, and knocked away Kaen's free leg with his arm. Kaen, without anything touching the ground, just fell; wrenching his leg from Damian's grasp and landing on that one instead. Damian stood up, and draped off his cloak to the ground as he did thus. He stood about a foot taller then previously seen; unfolding his wings from around his body carefully, glaring at Kaen who was just watching. It got a reaction from the crowd, no doubt.   
"Evolution?" Kichi said, from behind. Mattchu was unsure, Kim, who was still there, wasn't, he said so;   
"Not really... Just a nice little effect for our bored crowd here... Course, it also signifies the start of the real fight." Kichi started watching again, Mattchu continued so; hoping the fight would live up to the fact it had only just started.

Kaen was nonplussed. He'd seen this many a time, so he also knew things were going to get harder from here, too.. To show thus, he drew his fists together and thought for a while. Both got hot, what would have been white fur now emulated it; he glanced up at the charizard and unleashed some white-hot fire at it.   
Damian, not to be outdone, fired some fire; while not as hot, it served the purpose. The two forces collided; before the resultant mass exploded, leaving behind a rather smoky atmosphere, and another attack gone nowhere. Kaen rushed forward again; he knew what Damian was weak against, but he normally didn't get close enough to exploit this.. However, he decided to change this, as he went for a sharp jab to Damian's midsection. Damian countered quickly with his arm, glancing it aside, as Kaen went for a kick to roughly tme same place, Damian ended up having to use his other arm to block that. Kaen now had one arm free. Fire was pulsing the end of this, and he thrust the fire punch at the same place again, Damian now being hard pressed to block it well, and being the height he was, ducking wasn't really an option. Instead, Damian just lifted his leg up, and it caught Kaen square in the solar plexus. Kaen lost all will to stay stood up, and his attack stopped in midwater as he crouched trying to get the air back from his winded self. Damian, seizing his advantage, raised an arm and went to smash Kaen from above.   
Most of the crowd thought the end was nigh; even Mattchu did, but Kim saw the next part coming, and it did. Kaen, however he did it, stood, grabbed the downcoming arm of Damian, and using that to pivot off, he thrust forward with both legs, hitting Damian on his right side. Damian, slightly taken by this move, did the first thing that came to him; he drew his arm back, and Kaen found himself flying through the air, heading for the crowd that stood on the other side of the ring. Damian looked happy when Kaen's landing onto a couple of smaller morphs caused a small conflict that Kim managed to separate, in his usual way...   
Kaen left behind the Kim-caused bloodbath, and stepped back in, slight flecks of blood not his own were visible. Kaen then rushed forward yet again, fire pulsing in both handpaws as he did so. He wouldn't give Damian a chance to react, as he went in for the double punch, Damian just standing there.   
And then he wasn't standing there. He was about 8-10 feet up, wings always being handy for such situations. Kaen just looked up, and fired off his store of energy at the unseeing Damian. It hit Damian's wings and seemed to do nothing. The charizard landed about 15 feet away from Kaen, and turned back to him, set on finishing this. The offensive came from he this time, as he stepped forward surprisingly quickly, pulling right arm back and throwing ot forward, aiming for Kaen's head. The ninetales flung both arms up and the blow hit those, Kaen then grasped the arm with both of his and went to kick Damian, hitting Damian's right leg. Damian brought his other arm around and swung for Kaen's head, Kaen let go and the blow sailed over his head.

It was now that Kichi managed to note a sound from not very far away; somewhere over at the back of the crowd. She turned towards the road they had come here from in the first place. She tapped Mattchu.   
"Matt.. Can you hear that..?" Mattchu tried, glancing about... Near the back, the road leading to the Silph center from where they came yesterday; A large group was approaching the crowd and ringed area. It was hard to make out, but Kichi knew exactly who it was. So, for that fact, did Mattchu, who motioned Kim over, and Kim was over almost before he motioned.   
"Ya..?" he said. Mattchu pointed to the large coming a way away. Kim had to gaze through many crowd, but the group had reached the back of the crowd, and were starting to clear it away.   
"..what exactly are they doing?" Kim said..   
"Looking for Articuno, no doubt..." Mattchu said. "I think, Kichi, we'd better clear out now..."   
"They want you?" Kim looked bothered.   
"Not as such... They want someone we know, who is back over..." He faultered. Which way was the car from here now, he thought? "Back at the car that this crowd had trapped in, somewhere over the other side of here..." Mattchu and Kichigai both came to the same thought; "Kijutsu." Kichi was slowly making her way back through the crowd, as shots rang out from the back of the Silph group. Both Kaen and Damian turned towards there. Panic gripped the crowd slightly, until everything just collapsed, and chaos ensued from there. The fight was stopped now, as the Growlies tried to make their way through, morphs were trying to fight thewm off; some were just standing there, others were running... Kichi took advantage of the chaos, and started running back for the car where they had left Hayai and Kijy before. Kim looked to Mattchu as he went to follow.   
"Damian really needed that word... Get whatever you need to get done sorted, we'll sort out this crowd.." And Kim was gone. Mattchu followed back through the wave or morphs running in all directions, speed coming in handy so as not to hit anyone.

Kichi had made half the way when she spotted Hayai and Kijutsu; Hayai had Kijutsuwas carrying Kijy and they were both struggling not to get taken by the oncoming waves of fleeing morphs... Some more shots rang out from over where the group was; the Growlies couldn't get through the wave of people as the raichus had done, so they were doing it the typical way. Kichi met up with Hayai and Kijutsu, and shouted above the noise.   
"Follow back this way! They're here for the Articuno, and if they find Kijy, they'll guess for themselves..!" Hayai wasn't getting anywhere though. Mattchu looked through to Kichi, as the wave of morphs prevented them from going anywhere. Kichi looked back, the ever-present glint there, as Mattchu clicked the same idea, and glanced around...   
Mattchu chanrged up; slow, at first; more obvious as sparks jumped from him onto anyone that came within range.. he looked to Kichi who was starting to do the same, then to Hayai and Kijutsu, who was just stood there, trying to not be taken by the crowd...   
The raichus fired off twin thunderbolts; they latched each other, and anyone in the way was electrocuted, and fell. The wave of people started to divert so as not to die, and a path was there, but not obvious.. When the thunderbolt attack was stopped, the path was there, but only for a small period of time; Hayai took his chance and sprinted over the people that had been hit with it first time; he wanted out of there as much as the next morph, of course... Kichigai followed suit, and the group of four moved into the ring, which Kim was still keeping free of people..   
"You two okay?" Kichi asked; Kijutsu who was still asleep gave no answer, Hayai did instead.   
"Yeh... I know who's just arrived, not too hard to guess..." he replied.. "Kijutsu looks fine also.."   
"So then.." Mattchu asked. "How do we get out of this?"   
The crowd was dispersing, most of the morphs had gone, and the Growlies were making their way towards the ring again. Hayai, juvenile though he was, seemed obviously nervous, and trembling slightly he looked to the others, beads of sweat visible, though this was probably from the heat of the area earlier..   
"So... What do we do now?" he asked, faintly over the crowd's bustling around the ring which they were stood in; all of that crowd aiming to get as far away from those with guns as fast as physically able.   
Damian and Kim entered a quiet conversation with each other; obvious discussing what to do.. Kichigai looked over to where the Growlithe-morphs were storming through, a small band made up of very disgruntled people who were probably related to the carcasses they stood on as they fought them.. Another shot, another shower of red, another one joined the massacre victims.. That number was dwindling, however, and she gazed to Kijutsu, blue hair wavering in front of her eyes; relaxed through knowing..   
Mattchu glanced over in the other direction; to the crowd.. all made up of ground-based morphs, all the airborne ones had already got out of the area the obvious way.. Some were bleeding; either took a shot from one of the guards, or got caught up in moving while trying to escape and landed on someone's claw, or horn, or whatever.. He turned to Hayai, then the rest of the group.   
"That's how we get out.. Go along with the group, get as far in there as can be done.. Of course.." he motioned the large charizard-morph, Damian, "you could just go out through the air.. But for the rest of us, which don't have that luxury, or.." looking at the scyther, Kim, now, "have it in the avaliability to get high enough with it.."   
"I can carry two with me, I'm sure of that.." Damian said, before Mattchu finished his sentence. Mattchu looked him over, "Hm.. Well the two would most likely be Kijutsu, most definitely.. and Hayai.. The rest of us should have no problems.."   
Kichigai, who was still glancing at the brawl in the distance, just nodded, "..I suppose we'd better move fast, too.."

This they did, with Kim, Mattchu, Kichigai, and Kaen, running towards the crowd. Damian, contrastingly, took to the air, grabbing both Hayai and Kijutsu and then heading up and in the same direction as the others..

The Growlithes at the other end were just toying at this stage... As people rushed up, trying to take random puches, the guards would bash them with their nightsticks a few times... and, if it was something not particularly defensive, like a Koratta, that would normally be enough. Anything else was stunned, and the Arcanine; he who wielded a subautomatic as well as himself, went over to them; his gun spoke in rough loud monotone, and that was that.   
There had been around six dozen in the small group over here... Right now, there were two, who took the moment of silence directly after the Arcanine stepped in again, to turn tail, and bolt away, towards the rest of the dispersing crowd.   
"Well... Now that we can get through..." the Arcanine, a rather cocky tall figure, clad in the typical stiff black Silph guard uniform, which was suffering slightly from overuse and right now was flecked with red..   
"...if I'm not mistaken, isn't that the car they went away in.." one of the Growlithes commented, pointing a paw aft at what was left of Kichigai's car, which had been stuck in the crowd.   
"...which means they're not as far away as we may think..." He glanced over at the crowd, rapidly trying to escape down the normal-sized road that led out of the area, "It also means we need to get that lot down there as quick as we can.. or we'll lose ground..."   
He ran forward, the others following, not caring who they stood on while doing so..

The four that were going through the crowd were not making progress at all.. Various shouts from random morphs, who were all pressing forward; the crowd for this had been really large, understandably, and the Raichus were having the best luck then.. There weren't as many spaces they could dart for as before, but they were appearing.. and they were reaching slightly blood-spattered spaces as quickly as they could edge through the crowd...   
Kim was having such luck, going even faster then the two Rai he was tracking along; Kaen, however, was not, he did not have the benefit of moving unseen, and so was stranded and just moving forward, slowly..

The Rai were only halfway through this crowd when the Silph reached the back of it, and started shoving through; they had the advice they'd 'killed too many' but should any of these start on them, it was then they would go to fighting...   
A couple fought through, stepping past Kaen as they did so, he just followed them through a small way, gaining some ground on getting through them.. Kaen knew they weren't looking for him, they were looking for the Raichus...

They'd never see them moving though, and they knew it, so the point didn't seem clear.

The Growlithes were finding progrees hard, too... The sheer number of people in this area was making showing through fairly impossible... However, they tried, especially that Arcanine, who brushed aside several peopole at a time..   
"ONE SIDE, SHITBAGS!" the brash morph would say, and whether they wanted to move or not, they would... It so appeared the people being moved were rather tired of it... but he _was_ the one with the gun, so they weren't retaliating..

Or they thought they weren't, until he reached a point near the center... Kim was near here at this time, and he ran through his head a rather simple plan to get the Arcanine off his back...   
Rushing past unseen, he grabbed the gun and was gone like he was never there... It took a few seconds for that fact to register on the Arcanine... but everyone else saw it instantly... and suddenly the rush wasn't on the front, it was on the morph.. The area of the crowd where he was became a claw-fight frenzy, and this was taken advantage off by the Raichus, Kaen, and Kim, who now found getting away much easier.. slipping through the last part of the crowd, which was by no means hard, the four ran down the street, following Damian, who had been waiting for them to fight their way through the crowd, and was probably leading them somewhere now..

The Arcanine, surprisingly, was holding his own against the large mob... until someone looked on the floor by his feet, and found the gun which Kim had intentionally dropped for some lucky morph to find... and suddenly, the Arcanine wasn't doing quite as well any more...   
  
  


Day 8 - Morning

17) - Story Lines Must Continue, and So they Shall   


They all had troubled sleep that night... none moreso then Kijutsu, who had been having it since the moment back in Silph a couple of days ago..

The group had followed Damian out; the scene left behind at the fight area was not to be looked back upon for any means.. He had led them here, saying he'd found the place on the way here..   
The place was a shelter, rather like one for homeless people - except now it was one for homeless morphs, and there were many of them.. It was a rather bleak building, dreary outside and akin inside... but Marie, the one who ran the place, she tried her best...   
The car and all the stuff along with it had been left behind... they could have gone to pick it up, but they wisely didn't.. They'd all just got there, and found something to lie on, namely a couch, a bed, the floor, and another couch... Kichigai was still wondering if Kijutsu would wake up again, but as they found out next morning, her fears were unfounded...

Kijy woke up early; the night moon still shone through, glinting off everything and anything, and herself; she was surprised she was still here for a start, as the last thing she could remember was back at Silph, when she had oh-so-accidentally caught Articuno...   
The pendant hung like a lead weight around her neck. She touched it once, and then looked around. So she was here.. no conception of how or why, but she knew why when she saw Hayai and Kichi asleep on a couple of respectively-placed couches.

[You're awake... Finally...] A voice, from nowhere, speaking lightly...   
{...wha?...} she questioned..   
[Er.. The pendant, I'm linked with that and you - and right now you need to know something...]   
Kijy already knew what was coming; a momentary flicker, a knowledge passed; Senkouhi stepping through the massacre left at the battle area, delighting in the stench of death as he went through...   
Kijutsu froze, not very hard for an ice-bird to do, but she did; It seemed like the sidetracking they had done had finally caught up...   
She dove out of bed, clicking claws across a wood floor as she hopped over to where Kichi was asleep, facing the other way. She tapped Kichi a few times, who stirred, and turned around to her..   
".......uh......hm, wha.....Kijy?" she slurred out, waking the second she set gaze to her now-awake companion.   
"Yes... I'm awake, everything seems okay with me... but not for us, I mean, think for a while; Senkouhi..."   
Kichi clicked, "Shit... We'd better--"   
"Run? That won't do us any good... he'll only follow us... And we don't even know what he wants yet..." Kijy said.   
"Isn't it obvious? He wants to kill us all, for not seeing his way... And then he'll be unopposed, and you know that..."   
"More deaths have been caused by us then by him... I don't know what we're aiming for any more.... I don't..." Kijy stumbled a paw on the couch, "What is this coming to..."   
"Kijy... It's just how things are going.... He has everything planned, all of it.... By acting all untrying, he's even getting you to think he's not intending to do anything... but remember Choukou, Kijy... That was unmistakeable, what he did there... You couldn't believe that to be anything else..."   
Kijy looked up, "I...suppose..."   
Kichigai stood up out of bed, "Well then, if you'd like to wake Hayai, I'll get Matt up and we'll head out... Kijy hesitated a minute, before nodding, and heading over to the other couch... Kichigai went over to Mattchu, who had crashed right on the floor, in a corner.. slumped against the wall in a position that would give him cramp when he awoke...   
"Mattchu.. You awake..?" she whispered. The figure looked up at her, a mirror almost dividing the two, "And you think I could sleep like that? Impossible... Anyway, we're going, what happens to Kaen and those other two..?"   
Kichigai stopped for a second, and looked at him, blankly, "Uhh... Well, if we split now, then since he won't be looking for them, he'll go after us instead.."   
Mattchu thought a while too, "That works... We'll head back here in a while..."

Other sounds were present in the building.. As the two raichus were talking, another figure made his presence known...   
"You're all up early.." said the voice. Kichigai turned to it's source, someone they'd not seen before.. plainly a Nyura morph, with a slightly lengthened snout, ears hung with a crop of black hair in between.. whiskers, claws, fur, the works - Except in places, stripes, randomly, there were pink areas.. maybe a dot, maybe a row.. one narrowly missing his eye... Other then that, all he had on was a black top and some black trousers, slightly too long...   
Kichigai looked the Nyura over.. "And, who might you be..?"   
He stared, uninterestedly, thinking for a moment. "Name's Derek Taylor.."

Mattchu sat up at once. Derek didn't see this, as Kichigai came towards him.   
"You know, I can't help thinking I know you from somewhere..." she said to him, as Mattchu slid from his reclined position on the floor, got up, and stood next to Kichi..   
"No, Kichi.. Maybe we don't know him.. But, I think he'll know who I refer to next.." Turning back to Derek, he said, nice and loud, "So, how's Rebecca doing?"   
Derek faltered slightly, "Er.. Hold on a moment.." He turned full face and shouted into the back, "BECCA? Could you come here a second please?"   
Some sound was heard in the back, but it was too dark to see in. Mattchu and Kichigai waited..

From the depths of the room she came.. though Mattchu had not seen her, he did know what it looked like upon seeing it.. It was Persian, evidently.. the downy fur and general look told you that.. 6 whiskers were visible, extending from the cheek.. a red spot adorned hr head.. two rounded ears stuck out of a mass of purple hair that extended past the neck and down to around mid-back... hanging loosely around the ears, straight, unlike Kichi's which curved slightly.. As obvious cat eyes looked at the pair of Raichu, her lips curled into a smile, almost mocking, as a couple of feline canines made their presence known..   
"Matt.." Evidently she had an equal perception ability, she knew who it was.. "It's been a long time.. and now is probably not the most.. opportune.. time for a meet..." Mattchu looked away a second.   
"Can't be a reunion unless Daryl's here.. and no-one knows where he is... though I think I have an idea." He then turned back, stood with a slight grin, before looking right at Rebecca.   
"So.. The situation seems interesting... Something in the building where we were holed out at the start caused all of this... you know, everything.. Then I get told by a supposed goddess that you two had something to do with it... What's going on, Rebecca? And why do I feel like I don't have a clue..."

Rebecca looked at him.. "Well, Matt.. Your source is indeed correct.. this whole thing was a cause of me.. However, it wasn't intentional.. Come, I'll tell you about it.."   
Mattchu hesitantly followed, producing some paper from his trouser pocket, turning to Kichi.. "I stopped writing things down after the road trip, Kichi.. but I'll get this down.." and then proceeding to the back. Derek, apparantly uninterested, walked off down a different corridor. Kichi, who had been left standing there, just turned and walked back to Hayai and Kijutsu, who were talking quietly, sitting on a couch out of the limelight.   
The room and it's adjacent corridors were visible, but the light was one which did not completely fill; it was light yet it..wasn't.. there was an equal amount of darkness in the room that the light could not dispel as it usually did... a very common trick of the light, but one which, Kichi thought, there may be some truth to..   
{ Best not tell these two what Mattchu said, if they didn't hear.. I fear Rebecca would be in for a lot worse if everyone found out the whole thing was her doing... } she thought to herself..   
[ I'll agree there, Kichi.. ] said the voice, Jinkei.. as they both waited for Mattchu to return to the room, still noting Senkouhi was here, somewhere, and they needed to make themselves scarce as fast as was possible...   


It was around 15 minutes later that Mattchu emerged from the back room, every bit as solemn as when he entered.. mood unchanged, though the face of Rebecca matched, in a way.. Kichi stood up from the couch as he returned, still clutching his wad of paper..   
"I suppose we've been help up long enough... It's time to move out.." he said, nervously.. voice sounding like a wavering violin string..   
"Okay then.." Kichi turned around, and motioned the other two anthromorphs to get up and prepare for leaving.   
"Going so soon?" Rebecca's expression was moot. She either knew what was set to happen by way of Mattchu, or she'd been eavesdropping earlier..   
"Course, we could stay and get killed, but no, we'll go somewhere else and get killed instead.." muttered Hayai as he idled away past Rebecca and into the depths of the black, from where she had just come. Rebecca turned as he disappeared from visibility.. before turning back to the raichu couple, slighty perturbed.   
"What's up with him..?"   
Kichi was still looking back the way Hayai had gone... "I don't know.."

Kijutsu, in her angelic innocence, just looked lost..   
  
  


18) - The Vicious Triangle   


Rebecca didn't stay watching the group too long.. It was seeing Matt here and still alive that had first surprised her.. it was a face a little too close to home for her liking..   
Since the onset of all this, which she had inadvertently brought about.. {_I hope I'm not made to pay for that one later.. if anyone should find out then I'd probably be killed then and there... But Matt's not gonna have that, no.._}   
Paranoia had dug it's way in and set like concrete. And now the only way she would keep it solid is if she, like the group that had formed with Mattchu at it's head, took her leave.. She had always fancied Japan; it held an old charm to her from a time gone by.. It was her that had given Matt his knowledge of Japanese and the incentive to thusly name his pokémon the same way, after all..   
As she walked down the blackened corridor towards her room, passing the distracted one on her right, and heading away, down another corridor.. she knew what she needed alongside.. {_Must have Derek there.. of course.._}

She still wanted him there.. even though it was his lack of care that caused her to be in her present state... {'But they couldn't possibly hold a problem now, it's been a day or two...' "Well, if you insist..."}   
Her common sense of reason had screamed at her not to touch it, but she trusted Derek.. He'd not done that on purpose, because he'd picked a couple up too..   
She didn't notice at first, when the spheres started to emanate light.. She did notice when her arm seized up, however, and the flurry of expletives bounced off of all four walls, and came back just in time for her to lose her ability to stand, and collapse forward... It was burning, it was freezing, all at once.. and the world was spinning like a simple child's toy, a spinny top, around and around, and the colours did likewise, before they all came together to a point, which gradually faded... the stream of expletives not uttered by way of mouth any more, but continued through her thoughts until her thoughts lost all sense of existence, and fell silent.. a simple off switch had been untryingly pressed..

It came back on again, eventually. She didn't know how long she had been out, but as her eyesight started to slowly warm up, she noticed the clearness of the room... it's slight lack of colour, but it's sharpness overwhelmed that.. because it was sight, yes.. of that no doubt could be held..   
It was sight through Persian eyes, however. She knew this as soon as she saw Derek.   
The figure once human was leaning against a wall... He saw Rebecca get up, calling out, "Reb.. You hear anything?"   
Rebecca hesitated for a moment, before saying the line and asking a question she already knew the answer to. ".....De-"   
"Yes, it's me.. I've been awake a while.." he stopped, and knocked his head against the wall, "WILL YOU BE QUIET IN THERE?"   
Reb looked at Derek, oddly. "...What's wrong..?"   
Derek looked at Rebecca; it was a glazed over look.. "Since I awoke, my Ditto, who now is part me and has the ability to speak into my thoughts directly, has been repeating 'Ditto' since I woke up... and it's past funny now..."   
Rebecca thought for a while... {Does that mean..?}   
She acknowledged another presence.. but it was mute.. She spent no time trying to wake it, and instead consoled Derek.. who's Ditto either had something against him or it was just something he'd have to bear with until it got bored...

She couldn't feel bad at him after that.. and, as she remembered previous events, she realised why she wanted him there.   
"He's mine.. and that's all I need, whether human or hybrid.." she mumbled, a semi-happy tone coming as she turned the door handle to the room shared by her and Derek, and pushed the door inwards, padding inside the dull room.

Inside the room, was Derek, and an unexpected guest, who was Marie, the owner. She was a hybrid, as Rebecca, except the mix was that of Venusaur and Herugaa. She was a weird sight, green and black spiralling around visible skin, a half-large back flower which was uncovered, instead she wore an adapted blue top, over which very long yellow/white-green hair flowed.. as well as a long pinkish-white skirt that covered both feet..

"Oh.. Didn't expect to see you in here, Marie.." Becci said, looking absently away, and at the bookshelf adorning the wall to her right... Doing so served no other purpose then to not establish eye contact with Marie..   
Marie said nothing. Derek turned to Rebecca, "So, what was that raichu about then..?"   
She turned to him, mood slightly infringed, "Nothing much.. Someone I knew from back home.. I'll tell you about it a bit later.."   
Her cat-like sense of smell picked something up.. It irked at her subconscious a while, she ignored it and walked swiftly to Derek, then looked at Marie over Derek's shoulder, "Excuse us.. It's a little early and.. well.. we plan to have a lie in today. A necessary one..."   
"Er.. Rebecca, perhaps I should say something..." Rebecca became pushed to thoughts again.. He'd **never**, for any sort of reason, turn down a morning opportunity...   
Rebecca pulled from him, "Go on, Derek, what is it..?"   
Derek faltered. He never expected her to come in just then.. Much less did he expect to have to surface his thoughts... and as he thought of what to say, he caught the smell that Rebecca had picked up earlier.. and looked towards the room's bed.   
Rebecca was still thinking about that, and when she saw Derek look at the bed, she knew right then.   
"..You bastard, Derek." Rebecca said, bluntly. Derek made no attempt to shirk away..   
But Rebecca had other things on her mind.. She knew exactly how to get at Derek... and by hell, she was going to go with it...   
"Now then, Derek, you know what's going to happen next don't you.. Yes, of course you do, listen to the voice, it'll tell you exactly what you need to hear... Ditto ditto ditto, eh Derek?"   
Derek winced, "Rebecca.. not now, and not here..."   
But Rebecca wasn't stopping now, "Oh, but no, we can't stop now.. The voice can't stop now, you get to listen to that.. Ditto ditto ditto, Derek ditto.. Come on, you know it's gonna bother you.."   
Derek leaned against the wall, hand to his head... Yes, he did have to listen to it, that thing.. Ditto ditto, ditto ditto. Always. Forever.   
"What the hell are you doing to him?" asked Marie, her first words since Rebecca had come in.   
"Oh, nothing, dear.. Derek knows what I'm doing, doesn't he, ditto ditto?" she taunted, at both Derek and Marie..   
Derek threw his head back against the wall on a reflex, "STOP IT DAMN YOU!"

Marie had no clue what was going on.. Derek had said nothing about his problem and he wasn't intending to say anything... but Marie had found out, and Rebecca would be sure to keep this going...   
"Had enough yet?" Rebecca taunted him as he leaned against the wall, headache beginning to sink in... Ditto ditto, ditto.. He heard it clearly, he always did.. though he'd forget about it at times it was always there, metronome-timing in it's continuousness...   
Though it said nothing else, Derek would know what it wanted..   
~Ditto, ditto, you know how to stop Rebecca, dit dit, it's very simple..~   
Rebecca got bored with just taunting him, and slapped him across the face, "Come on, don't zone out on me now, I've not even begun to start yet..."   
~Ditto, ditto~   
Derek, while reeling, was still fully alert; he knew there was a coat hanger, a tall, heavy, metal-tube stuck up in the corner, with a few hooks and things atop it... Grabbing this, he let out a loud cry and swung it at the unsuspecting Rebecca's midsection. It caught her, perfectly, and sent her over the bed and onto the floor on the other side...   
Marie moved forward at this point, Derek's swing carried on through momentum, and Marie didn't see it coming...   
A dull thud sounded as one of the blunt hooks embedded itself in Marie's left eye, she was taken off her feet and she was smashed into, and partly through, the wall behind her... Derek was unseeing...   
The voice continued... Derek had removed it's provocator, and in his enraged state he was very eager to remove the source... His heavy breathing and the voice was all he could hear... as he stepped backwards, he turned around and went to strike the wall, but there wasn't a wall there; it was actually a window... all pain was forgotten in the state he was in, and the sudden loss of balance forced him to lean forward, half out the window. Half of the glass had smashed, but half was lodged at the top, held by some messy paint work and some window sealant that obviously had some sort of relation to superglue..   
As the repetitive annoyance rang through Derek's head ever more, he brought his head back up, and shouted loudly at it;   
"SHUT THE HELL UP!"   
As he did thus, the top half of the window pane lost it's holdings, and slid downwards suddenly.. the groove to each side tracing it's deadly descent, a particularly sharp piece ignoring the nyura head in the way, lancing it through vertically, and coming to a stop against the base of the window.   
Derek neither saw this coming, nor felt it when it did... but as everything grew fainter, his blood starting to trickle it's way down the wall, the voice continued... and then just stopped. All other senses of perception followed the repetitive voice into the cataclysm of not being there...

Derek did manage to get rid of the voice, after all...   
  
  


Surprisingly enough, the first person to find them was Kijutsu.. While they had been packing up to go again, she had felt the need to rush off quickly, in the general direction of the nearest bathroom...   
As she ran hastily down the corridor, the sound echoing off the wood and into the culdesac ending beyond, Kijutsu took the wrong door, and instead of the door to the bathroom, she entered Derek and Rebecca's room...

Kijutsu opened the door, knowing by the size of it at first glance it was the wrong room..   
"Oops.. Sorry, thought this was th-" She looked again. She could see Derek on the floor amidst a puddle of blood.. She could also see Marie, lying face forward in the same, looking pretty mangled up. Behind her was the wall with a large hole in it, and behind Derek was a completely smashed window.

Kijutsu did what any normal person would have done, and bolted.

"Kichi?" she shouted, as she ran into her untryingly while turning a corner. "Oops, sorry.."   
Kichigai raised a smile, "No problem, Kijy.. What's wrong..?"   
Kijutsu turned towards where she had come from, "Rebecca's room.. I went into it accidentally... Derek and Marie are both dead.."   
Kichigai winced, and headed off down the corridor. Kijy went off in search of Hayai.   


Hayai was busy elsewhere in the building, waiting for the others to get everything ready for their departure.. He found the door leading outside, opening it, to a breeze of fresh air, and stepping outside..   
He looked around, there was nobody here. At least there wasn't when he looked around the first time, he said to himself, seeing someone. His surprise came when the someone walked towards him. He couldn't see who it actually was, but he turned to go back in anyway.   
A momentary flick in his eyes, and the door swang shut. Senkouhi knew those two raichu had heard, but then again, that's what he wanted to do..   
The young one glanced to him, full of fear.. wise he was to be so.. However, an unknown burst cased Hayai to step from the door, a black glow coursing thorugh his paws..   
"Hey.. If it's a fight you're looking for.. I won't displease.."   
Senkouhi laughed. Cute, very cute. As a followup, he swung his sword at the brazen youth.   


Everyone in the place at the time heard the closing of the door.. however, a pendant-guided viewpoint of Senkouhi looking at Hayai caused both of the raichu to take it directly to heart..   
Two second later, probably less, a slightly worried Kichi was standing behind Mattchu, who was trying to pull open the door, but it seemed to be locked, even though Mattchu had the key and he'd tried it, to no avail.. the door should be open, for all purposes...   
{ Psychic lock.. } Sadame muttered, wistfully. Kijy appeared in the corridor, and looked at Mattchu straining with the door.   
"Mattchu, could I try this?" Kijy asked.. Mattchu didn't see any harm in it, so he stepped back while Kijy walked to the door, and grabbed the handle. Then she closed her eyes.   
The handle lit up around as bright as the light bulb, before she pulled open the door, with little effort.   
Mattchu just blinked, Kichigai smiled, "Nice work.." before she followed Kijy outside.

There was no sign of anything wrong outside..

Except something pinned to the outside of the door, which Kichi picked up.   
"Hm.. Here, listen to this:

** To Mattchu, my hopefully not-too-confident associate;**

** Stopped by this morning, but there seemed to be something wrong with the door. No worries, I picked up something of value.. I'm sure you'll be interested..**   
** Anyway, just saying; you seem to be out a lot when I come.. So, why not come to me? Not a bad idea, because I'm not going anywhere.. You may not want to miss this invitation, Hayai wouldn't be very happy..**

** You have one hour. Then I start finding alternative entertainment arrangements.. You know, a fun pastime is watching people scream when I amputate various limbs and such, obviously bar anaesthetic..**

** You know I'm serious. I've won, whether now or later. But I'm getting tired of all this, and I bet you are too.. Tell you what, come within half an hour, and I'll make it quick.**

** Senkouhi**

and it's written in blood, too..."

Mattchu winced... He expected this, sooner or later...

"Forget the moving arragements.. Kijy, see if you can get the other three up.. Tell them that if they don't mind fighting and dying, if they could please come with us on this.."   
Kijutsu nodded, and went off to do that. Kichigai turned to Mattchu.   
"You don't think we're going to win this, do you..?"   
"I don't think even an army could stop Senkouhi now.. so what chance have _we_ got?"   
"Plenty.. We're going ourselves, the others can catch up if they want.."   
Kichi stopped, "You're saying an army couldn't beat him, and you want us two to go alone first? That's stupid!"   
Mattchu shook his head, "Trust me here, if you don't at any other time... I know how he thinks, he thinks like me, and therefore this'll give us our best chance..."   
He lapsed to thought, { Sadame, how far away are they? }   
A brief pause, { Around 10 minutes, walking. You two can probably make it in less time then that... I'll guide you there.. }   


Kijy came back, and they were gone.. She knew what they were doing, thanks to pendant relay.. and she waited for the other three..   


And so, the final conflict drew ever closer......   
  
  
  


Chapter 19   


Mattchu and Kichigai went along the streets, following their conscience, or in this case, the quiet voice of the pendant twins, speaking in unison, even though each could only hear their own..   
Mattchu didn't pay much attention to the actual surroundings.. he wasn't interested in what the buildings on the way looked like... The movement was a passing blur of grey, mixes of colours, random occurrances in a constant stream that he wasn't really focused on..

What he _was_ focused on was the battle to come...   


Kichigai, at this point, having already reiterated that Senkouhi by now would be too strong for even an army to beat.. and yet Mattchu had decided just the two of them should go first... But, surely they all should go, the mass of power at the start would give them a much better chance then if they went in sets and got beaten down...

The view of the place, the city, the street, the buildings, the random bits of paper scattering around on a street where the tall buildings turned the area into a wind tunnel... it was all hollow, she cared not for them being there.. She wasn't thinking of anything but why, and even as long as she'd known him, she still wasn't likely to work it out..

Then again, Mattchu knew Senkouhi, and Senkouhi knew him.. so she supposed Mattchu knew what he was doing...   


The route they had taken led them out of the city to the east, and from where they were Kichi could see a large building ahead... Mattchu probably already knew it was there; it seemed to be his destination, and the place looked danuting, even from where Kichi was; it felt wrong, it's presence was marred by something Kichigai couldn't see but it was definitely there...   
And they were heading right for it..

It wasn't long before they reached the building... or, rather, the outer gates of it...   
It was a broken place, looking rather unused, even though two weeks earlier this place would probably have been full.. It was the local pokémon training gym.. but, a gate hung off it's hinge and was layed on the grass near the entrance... Windows and bricks ewre littered everywhere... And it was dark.. a cloud hung low overhead, laying in wait for the two, probably just like Senkouhi was..

Things as they were, they were of little concern now, and the two raichu'morphs walked down the central path, littered with glass, stepping wisely around it.. and entering into a bare door, the clawed remnants of it probably lay somewhere, rotting..   


As if it wasn't dark enough outside... Despite the windows being smashed, and light coming in, it was fairly dark inside... a broken fluorescent ceiling lamp indicated why...   
Various walls and floors were covered in amounts of blood, as they walked in; probably remaining from the short period ago in which there used to be training going on.. then the next second, chaos was likely to have broken out... Dents in walls, holes, and one wall, brick too, was in pieces... Kichigai winced upon seeing that; she could almost visualise the morph who had been flung through that...

After what seemed like an eternity, they passed through a gap in a wall, and reached the main battling hall... It was a typical gymnasium, and surprisingly, in the place you'd expect the most remnants of carnage, the floor was unmarked, and was as it should be; two trainer boxes, and the pokémon-side center line divided.. no red could be seen... But, the walls were a different story.. as various smashed windows and red smears told an obvious story of this place..

Senkouhi was here, Mattchu knew of it... From where he'd come, they didn't know..

"Hmm..." Mattchu looked slightly confused. "Knowing him, I'd expect him to be-"   
"Waiting for you, perhaps?" The sound came from the other side of the room... or maybe it came from behind them.. The acoustics of the room were no help to them... until a thought dawned, on Kichigai first... It seemed slightly too close to comfort... seemingly inside-   
"Mmhmm. You can't imagine what thoughtspeech does for intimidation purposes. Over half of the normal ones would have ran... but not you.. oh no. You're too dumb to know what's good for you.."   
Kichigai was contemplating what the addition of psychic ability to Senkouhi would do for the oncoming battle... Mattchu had already guessed he had this...   
"What's good for 'me' has no place here. What's better for me is to stop running away whenever we get word you're on your way here.. You know just as well as I do that there isn't anywhere on this earth we can hide from you... and yet one thing, unclear, unseen, even I don't get it, and I'm convinced you don't get it either.."   
He walked forward.. For a voice inside his head, he was speaking pretty loudly...   
"Over this past week, crossing half a state, you have pursued me, and the others... but mainly me.. And yet, I strain to figure out why.. What the hell do you want?!" He shouted this at a vacant wall.. where a figure made itself present from the shadows.. slowly, almost like he wanted to be noticed..   
"You mean... you're running from me, and you don't know why? Oh! Haha..! That would be a very sorry state indeed.. But, I'll tell you, anyway.."

The place lit up, the source unknown.. A figure was visible on the other side of the room; bathed still in darkness despite the light, clothed in the darkness, also; black garments made up most of his clothing.. Once-fur was now replaced with the lightish-metallicism of mewtwo skin; Mattchu saw, but he didn't believe who this was..   
"...Senkouhi?!" A simple exclamation, and Senkouhi knew it was coming even before Mattchu was here..   
"Correct... Now, my reasons for coming after you..." Even from this distance, Mattchu could see the evil grin on Senkouhi's face..

"You know what it's like as a pokémon, Matt? ...well, evidently, look at you now... You have maybe a small idea... Yet you don't. Truely.. You see this?" Senkouhi held up a rather tarnished black ball, "Witness the one-creature Alcatraz that is the masterball, raichu.. I wasn't in this thing for very long, I know that.. However, I was in something like it, and I know you don't know what it's like in here.. Maybe you do, your previous self should have that knowledge... or maybe he forgot intentionally, having been out of the thing for so long, and so frequently.."   
He started walking... at least, it would have been walking, had he actually been moving his legs, and if he actually had contact with the floor...   
"And now, look where we stand.. or levitate, however you want to see this.. If you didn't guess what I want already..." His voice tone quivered slightly.. "You know what I want. You. Inside this thing.." He tossed it into the air, as if proving his point.   
"However..." he said, the definite tone of voice, the one heard when someone is absolutely dying to tell you about some bad news.. "when I catch you.. there's a little quirk I found out by experience.."   
Mattchu's look tightened. Kichigai listened..   
"I have little doubt you've already discovered that the black ones will contain others like us.. yes, it does, but as soon as you get it, the ball empties; their power is yours, and that's the end of the deal..."   
"Just get to the point, Senkouhi..." It was only then that Kichigai realised that Mattchu didn't actually know what the two of them were here by themselves for...

Which meant they could have just walked into the biggest mistake since the accident...

"But, I don't want you like that... That wouldn't be any fun; simply ceasing to exist as an individual means nothing to me.. had I wanted that, I'd have killed you with that stone, instead of Choukou..."   
Kichigai winced. Whether that was deliberate to her, she didn't know.. Mattchu just kept looking...   
"Will you just--"   
"Fine.. If I want to keep you in this thing.. without the ability to accidentally end the suffering of being in here.. I'll tell you what it's like.. You don't **have** control. You do, but you don't... You're just in existence, somewhere between here and who-cares-where and no-one gives a fuck but you, and you can't do anything about it.... And, time is longer in there then regular; a second is two in there; a minute four; you aren't losing health, so it's possible for one to be in there for an eternity... I have thought that; I have seen it; and I will grant you the honour, call it as you will, of being the first mostly human mind to actually exist in this place... Because, dear Mattchu, you have to be a pokémon to be kept in these like that. That's correct, a normal, non-human, non-speaking, one-word-speaking, semi-sentient, raichu. It is that I shall have in this ball..   
Because, Tetsu had something that not even her sisters knew about..."

Sadame was silent. Mattchu could hear breathing, which meant she was present right now... But, wait; she was always present...?

Wasn't she?

Then where was the glow to his left coming from...

Senkouhi looked up in surprise..   
"...Sadame.. How nice it is to finally see you.. I've leeched so much from your thoughts this past week, I feel like I should know you better by now..."   
Sadame was in no mood for this, "You know, as well as me, that we're not here to step in... But, as you also know, there was nothing me, or my sisters, were told about getting involved directly..."   
"Look, stop boring me. If you want your sister back, tough for you; I don't know any way to separate after that - look at everyone in the world; you think THEY know a way either? And you can't do it, because I managed to get inside her mind first.. So, you're stuck, aren't you..."   
Senkouhi gloated. Sadame rose off the floor, quite angry, but not showing it as well as she'd like... Mattchu noticed a bead of sweat.. and almost shuddered...   
{ if she's nervous here... there has to be more to this... }   
Sadame stopped, looked at the floor... she then took a deep breath, and looked up, "Senkouhi... Would you like me.. to come to you there, and rip you to pieces.. so I can FIND WHAT'S LEFT OF MY SISTER TO TRY AND REANIMATE IT?! Would you? Really, I couldn't give a damn about your petty bid to try and get even with Matt.. You know damn well, I'm more interested in Tetsu..."   
Senkouhi placed a paw up, "Hold.. No, really, would you like to come and search me over for bits of your sister? I'm sure that would be very nice.. Care to try your luck? Or, wait, I could get you to the same place as your sister, if you want..." He held the ball up again, and laughed.. "Go ahead!"

Sadame didn't need a second telling.. The whole area, lit up already, was lit up a second time, the white robe of hers seemingly more luminescent now, like it wasn't before..

She stood, facing the other from the air... This would be an interesting battle, surely... and this is what she should about, as a small white orb of psi energy charged up in her paw..   
Senkouhi thought the same.. but he was quite confident he would win... He had a plan already... all he had to do was wait..   
She flung the orb at him, it went at speed... however, Senkouhi had been charging up too, and sent to meet the oncoming orb was an equal orb, of a varying black colour... The two were set on a collision course, this they did, and simply dispersed.   
Senkouhi then went to floor, "Down, Sadame.. We could fling our psi all day, but we won't get anywhere... This must be sorted the proper way...". From nowhere, he drew up a sword... It was a rounded blade, and looked freshly tempered..   
Sadame glanced at him. "You expect me... oh, fine. Whatever you will.." and drew her hands in front of her, slowly.   


Throughout, Mattchu and Kichigai just watched.. though, Kichigai was hearing something from somewhere nearby... Something, muffled.. almost unheard.. probably deliberately hidden...   
"Hayai...?" she mumbled. Mattchu caught this, and heard something from over the right side of the room, where a gap in the wall was present.   
"You think..?" he started..   
"Worth a look.." Kichigai said, before heading towards the gap, followed by Mattchu close at hand..   


Senkouhi saw them go, and grinned... before looking back to Sadame, who now held a gleaming sword.. the common choice mew sword; a crystal katana, both swift and elegant.. and she held it close to her head as she stared at Senkouhi..   
"Well then.. Come ahead, we've taken a long time at this as it is..." Senkouhi beckoned. Sadame printed forward, a vertical slash launched, barely touching the floor. Senkouhi was caught slightly off guard, and managed to parry the sword, and the mew, left. She turned instantly, and managed to swing the katana for his head. Senkouhi jumped backwards.   
"Not bad, not bad at all.." he began, before Sadame started again. He parried that one directly forwards, then thrusted at her with the sword. She jumped back, catching the sword with her katana and lifting up, trying to swing it and Senkouhi's sword right around for another strike. Senkouhi responded with a quick kick to Sadame's arm, causing her pressure on the sword to disappear, and Senkouhi tried another slice... but, it was wide of it's target.   
"So.. you fight dirty, as well..?" Sadame taunted. Senkouhi just looked on, "This shall certainly be a good battle..."   


The muffling sound came from the next room, indeed. Kichigai and Mattchu stepped in, and saw a barely conscious Hayai.. Mattchu went over to him.   
"You okay?"   
Hayai nodded, weakly, then slipped again and lay there a while. Mattchu turned back to Kichigai.   
"I wonder what the hell he did here..." he said, quietly.. Kichigai looked aside, then back to Hayai.. and saw him upright..   
"Come on, then.. Let's get back to seeing how Sadame's doing over here..." Hayai went to Mattchu and leaned against him as the trio walked back through the wall gap and into the fighting arena..

Sadame and Senkouhi were at locked swords.. Slashes from each swung through the air, and met each other... Sadame went low,Senkouhi jumped and sent one high, which Sadame ducked under, sending the sword back up at Senkouhi's midsection, but he was moving through the air too fast, and the swing missed it's target. Senkouhi swung at Sadame from behind, she managed to bend forward and slash at the hybrid's arm; but he pulled the sword back quicker then the swing went, and the sword stopped before it could carry her back around under momentum.

~..unnh..~   
{ Tetsu? }

Sadame sprang up at Senkouhi, knocking him back a bit.. before slicing at him again. He managed to jump right, and then back left, with sword forward. Sadame turned, parried him left, whacked him on the back to knock him off balance, and then ran forward, sword ready..

~...Sadame...~   
{ How can you still be here? }   
~I...I don't know...~

The turned Senkouhi was an easy target.. Sadame went for it, but he turned around again...   
{ He's reading my thoughts.. }   
[ Right you are, Sadame. You'll not hit me like this.. ]   
Swords hit each other again; they tried slicing at each other again, but they always connected with each other's sword and got nowhere..   


Mattchu and Kichigai were watching intently; so much so, they didn't notice Hayai when he stood up and walked to a wall on the left side of the room, away from them... and started searching for something... however, Senkouhi noticed.. [ That's it.. keep going... ]   
Hayai picked something up, palmed it, and slipped back, slowly, to Mattchu and Kichi.. still they looked at the swordplay..   


Senkouhi noticed this too.. { Ah.. Yes.. } before his momentarily lapse in concentration, coupled with a sudden thrust, gave Senkouhi a nice deep gash on his right arm. He promptly swung for Sadame's head, but clearly too high. He then had to bring the sword back in to deflect a blow heading for his unprotected midsection.   
Now was not the time to make mistakes..

Hayai took the dagger in his hand, silently, and walked about, slowly, until he was behind Mattchu. The raichu was fully immersed in watching the fight, thinking there was no threat.. Foolish one he was..   
Hayai stabbed the dager towards the raichu's head..   
Mattchu heard something slice air, VERY close to home... He turned, and a split second later he had Hayai's arm held, the tip of the dagger just above his head. Mattchu blinked. He didn't try for that...   
"Damnit.." Hayai muttered, and tried to complete bringing the dagger down, but the raichu suddenly hit Hayai's wrist with his paw; a nice move, if ever there was one, as Hayai's grip on the dagger disappeared almost entirely, and it dropped to the floor, landing on it's side by Mattchu's foot, with an audible 'clink'.   
Kichigai turned, to see Mattchu holding Hayai's wrist above his head. Mattchu nodded towards the dagger, then looked at Kichi.   
"Senkouhi has quite the nerve, trying to get one of my own to kill me.." Mattchu said.   
"The mewtwo didn't do anything. This is all me, Mattchu." and he brought his fist down suddenly. Mattchu placed a kick to Hayai's chest, and the hybrid eevee reeled.   
"What?" Mattchu stopped, slightly surprised. Hayai unleashed a sphere of black energy at Mattchu, which he took in the chest, being pushed backwards, claws leaving grooves in the floor.   
"I worked out that there was more killing coming from our group then there was from Senkouhi.. There's nothing can commit that to being the work of the person fighting for good, is there?" Hayai said.   
Mattchu couldn't offer a response. Hayai ran at Mattchu again, Mattchu knocked him left and threw a clenched paw at his back. Hayai slammed into a wall.   
Kichigai watched both the fights progress, uneasily..

Hayai was not one to stop... Mattchu was getting increasingly more reluctant the more times Hayai swiped.. This couldn't be him.. but he'd said it was... and Senkouhi was tied up with Sadame, he couldn't have time to control Hayai from there... He worked out the best way to deal with this was to knock Hayai out.. which he tried to do.. He launched a thunder wave at Hayai, who managed to get out of the way... Hayai ran forward and swung at Mattchu's chest, but he got out of the way and connected with Hayai's temple.. failing to get him to stop, still..   
It took a while for Mattchu to floor Hayai, which he managed to do by leg-sweeping the hybrid eevee and helping him finish his off-balance fall. He landed hard on the hard floor, and looked at the other fight...

Sadame took a particularly hard swing, and ended up back to Senkouhi.

~Sadame.. he's mine, leave it for now..~   
[ ..? What are you doing? ]

She heard scuffles... and turned to be faced with a wall of white...   
The other fight was halted.. as everyone watched this...

From the white formed something.. or someone... Sadame knew who it was instantly..

"Tetsu?!" Sadame couldn't believe this...

Neither could Kichigai...

The anthro mewtwo looked at everyone, a bit dazed.. "Senkouhi's.. well, I don't know where he is.. but he's not here... Not any more, anyway..."   
Sadame turned to the others.. Hayai was just looking, and thinking what he'd been prepared to do for the wrong cause not so long ago... when he saw something...

No..

He tried to speak, but nothing came... Kichi noticed Hayai... and looked to his sight of vision...   
"Oh god... Sadame!!" she shouted, a bit too late...   
Sadame turned, and the approaching Tetsu thrust Senkouhi's sword straight through her sister... The mew looked shocked.. then gazed deep to her sister... and found.. nothing...   
"...you utter bastard, Senkouhi......" she said, as she slipped slowly to the floor, in a puddle of half-red..   
Tetsu turned to the others, "Quite simple.." before her form once again shifted... back to that certain anthro flareon-mewtwo that they knew was going to come back...   
"And now that you, my raichu friend, are not under protection by the piece of metal decorating your neck.. you shall be mine." Senkouhi said.. and started to charge up for something....

Mattchu was still encompassed on one thing... He went to Hayai, "See what happened now... Now who's the evil one? Huh?"   
"I...I...I'm sorry..."   
Mattchu found it impossible to stay mad at him... Senkouhi now had a red glow.. Kichigai didn't like it, and Mattchu gazed back to him, "What the-"   
Senkouhi thrust both paws forward then, and Mattchu rose into the air, trapped; paralyzed in an instant by a blue glow that appeared and grew with surprising speed..   
Haai watched and stared... His actions now had caused this... and, somehow, he felt there was only one way he could retribute... He glanced to Kichigai, who was glaring at Senkouhi.. and then to the dagger dropped earlier.... He reached to grab it...

Kichi heard a cry from behind, and turned... Hayai, blooded dagger in hand, wound in chest, was slowly sinking to the floor... She once again glared at Senkouhi..   
[ Simple, again.. He was broken enough.. And then the little voice in his head told him to kill himself, and he obliged... ]   
Kichigai placed a paw to her head..   
{ I swear I will see you dead if it's the last thing I do.. }   
[ Oh, it may well be that, dear Kichi.. ]   
Senkouhi grinned.. He watched the struggling Mattchu; he couldn't escape, there wasn't a chance..   
Unless... He could sense the oncoming presence of the articuno.. This had to be quick...

Senkouhi looked at the floating Mattchu; encased in an unbreakable prison; to him, anyway.. and suddenly, the inside of it started to go opaque.. Mattchu was very much conscious... and he knew what came next, as he lost sight of everything in a mass of energy now going from red to black...   
"Behold that which is de-anthroization... a once-in-a-lifetime possibility that never fails to amaze me..." Senkouhi said... Mattchu barely hears it, as his senses started to discorporate from the happenings of the room..

Back here... it was black, the same one that overtook that day not so long ago.. the reverse of what happened then... It wasn't pleasure and it wasn't pain.. but it was something becoming scarce... before it disappeared, and there was just.. nothingness...

Then the mist cleared, and the now raichu fell to the floor... He was weak.. and his eyes looked up to the dominating one; he would die, somehow.. but there was no way he could do anything...   
[ No way is right... just stay there until I kill the others... and then you can forget about everything, and relax... for the rest of eternity.. ]

The part which bothered Mattchu most is he knew Senkouhi was right.... but, he waited for the others to come... unable to move, still paralyzed...   


From the back of the hall walked four figures.. the winged Kijutsu.. the dragon Damian.. the vulpine Kaen.. the scyther Kim.. They looked at the scene afore them; a near-unconscious unmorphic raichu, Mattchu.. the hateful Kichigai, needing to fight right now... the dead Sadame, the spectral one impaled by an illusion.. the dead Hayai, killed on his own dagger he still held...   
And finally, to the last.. A sign of pure evil for all it was worth.. Senkouhi, who looked at the new entrants with a mocking smile.   
"Welcome to the festivities, lady and gentlemen.. Today's special is death by swordblade.. Any takers?"   


And the battle began.   
  
  
  


Chapter 20 - The End   


The first thing Kijutsu saw was the deceased Hayai.. the other three were too busy looking at Senkouhi.. Kichigai turned to the rest of the group..   
"Not looking too good, is it..."

Mattchu saw the rest arrive, and glazed..   
[ Oh, don't go to sleep now, I'm not done with you yet... Even if they should win this, I'm still getting you... I will break you, Mattchu.. you're not getting off lightly... ]   
The raichu didn't want to deal with this... he was tired.. and he needed to rest.. But, as he watched, he found himself to a different kind of sleep.. the one more commonly associated with controlled sleep...

The one he was in when Sadame first spoke to him..

Everything blanked out... spinning endlessly into multiple things; he saw these things.. but they weren't what they were on spinning... He was in a room.. not the arena, this was.. back in the league HQ... But this place had been destroyed...?

There was something messed up about this place.. The blood where Choukou had been standing, it was still there.. and it was still fresh...   
"Like my little arrangements for you?" a voice called... Mattchu turned, and standing in that spot where he'd strangled Senkouhi at the start, there was a non-morphic hybrid.. It was flareon, but it wasn't..   
Mattchu found that in this place, he could talk normally... "..How..."   
"Oh, this is a not-real place.. of course.. But, it represents the first tine we fought, and it also represents my first kill.. something I'm proud of, even if it wasn't a fair fight... But, who needs to be fair?"   
"Not you, evidently..." the raichu muttered...

Senkouhi walked towards Kichigai.. Kichigai moved backwards.. backing up against Damian... Damian stared at Senkouhi.   
"Do you really think you can beat the five of us?"   
Senkouhi moved over to Hayai, and looked down at him. "Yes.. In fact, I'm quite sure.. and if I wanted to, I could just look at the five of you and I'd be able to tear your limbs off, one by one, without lifting a finger... But, that wouldn't be particularly nice, would it?"   
Kijutsu looked at Senkouhi, "..I..."   
"Hush, child.. You may be psychic, but you have no place trying it on against me.." He pulled out a black ball, beaten it was, but useless it was not.. He dropped it on the dead Hayai, and he was gone in an instant..   
"While the one from Mattchu's pendant would be a greater asset to me.. I wouldn't be able to catch her outright, even when she is dead.. But, this is what I seek for just now..."   
He walked back a little away, towards Mattchu. "You know, one of you'd be wise to start attacking me now.. I'm just clearing up from the previous battle here, and all I want is the raichu.."   
"And what do you plan to do after that, Senkouhi?" asked Kaen.. trying to be optimistic..   
"Actually, I don't know yet.." Senkouhi said. "Involves killing you lot off, I'm sure of that... And, for two points, I'll tell you that if you manage to kill me, Mattchu will be returned to normal.. How's that for a deal..."   
The group didn't hesitate to start attacking then.. Damian and Kijutsu took to the air, Kaen, Kim, and Kichigai kept to the ground...   
Senkouhi grinned, "Peachy..."   


Mattchu eyed the flareon, nervously.. What was he up to...   
"Oh.. I have someone here that you may like to see..." Senkouhi said...   
From the shadows of the place walked a figure that Mattchu recognised on sight...It was him..   
Not him as in him, but the human for of him, the one before all this actually happened... but he was lifeless...   
"Happy reunion? The trainer and his raichu.."   
"But... I was told that..."   
"You were told that you couldn't be separated by mind - Well, that's perfectly true... See, inside this mind would be Matt and the raichu.. but it's not, because that one was destroyed when I took in this form... You don't actually exist, I'm sorry to let you in on this now, but it's true..."   
Mattchu thought for a while.. "How can I not exist if I'm here?"   
"You're not really here.. You're being kept alive in mind by me.. And, these people on the outside are trying to kill me... And by doing so, they'd kill you too... But, they're fighting to save you from me.. so, they can't win, whatever happens..."   
The flareon laughed... It seemed impossible to Mattchu that what he said could make so much sense and yet be illogical...   


Attack after attack followed itself up... but they weren't getting anywhere... Senkouhi just stood there...   
"Can't you do any better then this? I don't even have a barrier up!"   
Unnoticed to most, the raichu Mattchu fell unconscious...

Most, except Kijutsu.. who took time out of the uneventful battle to see how he was...   
She saw he wasn't awake, and checked for a pulse... still watching the battle... and a weird thing happened.. when Damian's attack hit home, Mattchu convulsed slightly... And with Kichigai's attacks, the same, though not as much...   
"...Senkouhi..." She started up a recover attack... hoping they didn't damage more then she could heal...   


"You're not going to let them kill us, are you? That would be stupid... considering they're trying to kill me so they can save you, of course..."   
"If they kill you, it doesn't bother me either way.. I'm not here for anything else..."   
The ball was squarely in Mattchu's court now.   
"...er... But you have to stay alive... because...uh..."   
"Do I?"   
The place where they were fell silent.   


Senkouhi decided he had to do something, immediately... He decided to go on the offensive...   
"Well, your unability to hurt me got boring... So, I'll just be killing you now, and then I'll be on my way..." he said, arrogantly... He launched amounts of psychic energy at the nearest person to him... Kim, it was, who was about to try charging forward again... but he asn't expecting him to actually attack, and a paralysis hit him..   
"...That was easier then I thought..."   
Damian, who was in the air, saw this... He also saw red, and came down from the air, trying to land directly on Senkouhi... He hit the invisible barrier hard..   
"Owch.." Senkouhi didn't look up, instead proceeding on the paralysed one, "Like these blades of yours?" With a thought, Kim's arms lifted up against his will, and turned around so the points faced the scyther-morph, each one directly in fromt of an eye... "Want a closer look?"   
The barrier around Senkouhi shattered.. but it didn't stop Senkouhi from carrying out his intended plan of action... He forced the blades backwards... Damian only managed to watch on, as Senkouhi released the paralysis, and the impaled Kim fell to the floor...

Senkouhi found himself knocked forward very quickly.. Damian was right behind him... A fire blast later, Senkouhi avoided it... before pulling the sword out again, and swinging at Damian with it... He moved sideways from that and struck the back of Senkouhi's head, putting him off balance...   
The flareon hit the floor, and Damian was on him, beating him while down a few times for good measure...   
"You overstepped the line just then, Senkouhi... You can kill whoever you like.. but you chose to kill Kim.. and as his brother, I seek vengeance.."   
He stood up. "Survive this..." He started to charge a red colour, before walking towards Senkouhi, who made no effort to get away... glancing over at Mattchu... never faultering his grin..   
The explosion took out a large chunk of the arena... Part of the ceiling fell in, kicking dust and smoke around... Kichigai was closest, she coughed a few times... the others waited for the smoke to clear...   
When it did so, there was no trace of Damian... and Senkouhi was there, barely scratched...   
"Good! That was nice and strong... pity it was kamikaze, I would have liked to see more of that..."   
He turned to the others, "Come on.. Give it up already... You won't get anywhere if that thing didn't harm me..."   
Senkouhi seemed surprised it had done nothing...   


Kijutsu wondered about something... If she was psychic, could she not try to do what Senkouhi was doing...? What had he said... He was trying to break Mattchu... Get inside his h--   
She concentrated on something... she didn't know if it would work, but she tried for so, anyway...   


The silence was almost deafening... but it was broken, by the sound of wings...   
"What the..." The flareon looked up.. to see an Articuno, coming in from the shadows...   
Mattchu looked up, and wondered...   
The articuno looked at Senkouhi, "This is a very elaborate setup... You trap his mind somewhere else and make it so all your injuries affect his physical self...?"   
Senkouhi looked up, "Rats.. I thought someone would figure it out... Didn't count on it being you, though... Of course, you've locked yourself here too... means I'll have to break you both, but no problem there..."   
"..what do you mean..."   
"Let me explain, now that we're stuck here anyway.. This place I created when I tried tapping Mattchu.. It exists somewhere in uncharted time and space.. and it's something like a holdall for people's thoughts, actions, minds... like virtual reality.. except not virtual. At the moment, you and Mattchu are both in lethargy back in reality..."   
"So how are you fighting?"   
"It's not me.. It's Myuutsu.. Having more then one loyal mind is helpful here..."   
The articuno, Kijutsu.. remembered seeing Kim... "That's Myuutsu?"   
Senkouhi nodded.. "If it was me, I'd most likely have killed you outright... He likes playing games... it's a habit of Mews and their clones... Except exactly what game is played differs between the two..."   
Mattchu thought about this, "That means... you've given us a way to destroy you.. I should thank you, really..."   
The flareon narrowed it's black eyes.. "You can't.. Kijutsu may, but if she doesn't know what this place is, she won't know how to get us out..."   
"No.. Hold on a minute..." Mattchu got up, and paced... "If our minds are here, and so is yours.. then we can destroy this place, and it will destroy you..."   
"Heh... Not quite... Remember, Myuutsu is out there not me. I haven't control of what he does - but he's doing a good job, no?" Senkouhi looked on...   
"..Myuutsu is linked to you like I'm linked... therefore if you can get me... we can get Myuutsu too..." He turned to Kijutsu, "Try and tap Myuutsu from here..."   
Senkouhi's grin faded. "It's not going to work..."   
Mattchu turned to him, a mirror of he who he addressed, "Why shouldn't it?"   
Senkouhi growled, "I won't let you do that..."   
Kijutsu was already doing it... The place was lit up in a blue glow...   


Back with Senkouhi... and something was wrong... He knew it.... Kichigai and Kaen watched as he progressed over towards them... then stopped, mid travel...   
"Aaagh..."   
He looked to Kijutsu, who had lapsed to unconsciousness atop of Mattchu.. The silent duo, setting up a trap for him... He couldn't let that happen.   
But he couldn't do a thing about it... and everything started to swirl...   


The figure of a mewtwo.. that wasn't quite.. walked in, and glared at the raichu, then at the articuno...   
"Damn you..."   
Senkouhi turned to Myuutsu.. "They're going to destroy this place now.. Glad to have you here..."   
Myuutsu placed his paws to his face.. "..Matt's going to sit back and kill himself and two of his pokémon?"

Mattchu looked at them, "You ceased being mine the day I stopped being human.. And, you walked out on me... If there's one thing Mashu managed to drum in, it's that I'm not responsible for you any more... My responsibility is to make sure I destroy anything and everything that is of you.. because I've had enough.." He looked to Kijutsu..   


Kichigai and Kaen looked at the fallen Senkouhi, not sure what had just happened... Kaen went up to him, and tapped him with his paw... ready to retreat should he be feigning...   
"...what the..." Kaen looked to Kichigai, "He's unconscious.."   
Kichigai blinked.. and looked over to Mattchu, and Kijutsu.. both in the same state... then he went over to Senkouhi...   
"..I don't know... Is he still alive...?"   
"He is..." Kaen nodded. "I'll go check the others..."

Kichigai looked at Senkouhi's sword.. he still had it in his grasp... The raichu'femme walked to it, slowly, and grabbed it... it's blade felt cold, exactly as she thought it would have.... She freed it from the bare grasp with a small pull... and then looked back at Senkouhi...   
"If you're still alive... then I know how to solve that..."   
She lifted the blade up.. reverse grabbing the helm, so the blade pointed downwards...   


"Kichigai's about to kill Senkouhi.." a voice from nowhere said..   
"She does that and the other two die too... I still have damage transferred throughout us all, you know..." Senkouhi said, coldly...   
"I'll be happy as long as it gets you too..." Mattchu said, equally cold..   
The articuno, still in the air, hesitated... Mattchu saw this...   
"...no, tell her to stop..." Mattchu said, an air of disability around him...   
"I already did.." said the voice... before another figure came out of the shadows.. wielding a sword... It was a Mew..   
Mattchu blinked.. "But.. you died..?"   
"It's very hard to actually kill a Mew.. This place where we are, or rather the reality it exists in.. this is where we go when we're not alive.. And Senkouhi knew this, didn't you..."   
Senkouhi said nothing.. He couldn't say anything, Sadame had him paralysed, but none of the others knew this...   
"And now you're in my realm, Senkouhi.. This is Tetsu's place, private from everyone.. and you're using it for your own gain... You sicken me.." She moved over to him, and plunged the sword into the unmovable one's back... and all of Senkouhi's illusionary images ceased to exist...

Everyone was floating... in a void, black, Mattchu, Kijutsu.. Senkouhi.. Sadame..   
"...where did the other-" Mattchu began..   
"They never really existed... All of this... He's still trying to break you..."   
Senkouhi looked up at Mattchu.. just flareon, nothing more..   
"...yes... and I'll tell you why, too.... Never good enough for you, Matt... I had a psychic ability before you even knew me... and, had you been half the trainer you were supposed to be... you'd have found that out.... I proved incentive to the two scientists that day... to create all this to happen.... because I thought.. I thought I could get you to notice..... but I failed..."   
Mattchu looked away..   
"...and after all is done.. I broke minds, I killed many... for you.. because I knew what you was thinking... and that's all you ever wanted to do... You've been having the time of your life, don't deny it.. you liked it back when you killed that bufferfree girl... that fight at Silph.. you've liked it all... and I managed to outsmart you, like I always knew I could... You and that raichu both..."   
"...this was just a farce...?!" Mattchu looked back.. "This was all a game to you..."   
"Consider it as a gift..."

"It's not a game.. I never thought of it as such... So many people affected... it's more disgusting... I never said I wanted this... nor did I think it..." Mattchu said.. but he was speaking to space now...   
"...and the final illusion...... you cant exist here without me being alive...........so I'll see you very, very soon..............."

Senkouhi went limp then, and the void seemed to tighten...   
"You know, he's not correct... if I can get the others working on it, we can free you both from here..." Sadame said...   
"But you don't have five any more... Tetsu was killed too..." Kijutsu reminded...   
"...well, we can use someone else to fill the gap, then.. can't we..." Sadame looked at Kijutsu... who fell mute... "We're sisters, yes, but not blood sisters... No, there's just two that have survived from the original five... And, somehow, fate always hands us another..."   
Mattchu turned.. "But... you're fate, aren't you?"   
Sadame nodded, "Exactly."   
And everything disappeared just then.... Even now.. Mattchu didn't know who had actually won...   
  
  


~Epilogue~

The room fizzed into view... The raichu could see ground... and he couldn't move...   
A little help over here, please...?>> he said.. a raichu tongue it was, but good enough nonetheless...   
It caught the ear of Kichigai, "Mattchu?"   
Mattchu was trapped under Kijutsu... Kichigai gently lifted her off, and laid her aside... Kichigai noticed no pulse upon doing this... and looked down...   
If you're wondering, she's not dead.. They needed someone to fill the gap left by Senkouhi's acquiring of Tetsu..>> Mattchu said, dragging himself weakly to his paws..   
Kichigai felt for the pendant.. but it wasn't there.. "Know anything about this..?"   
Mattchu shook his head, Maybe they took them back? Who knows...>>   
Kichigai shrugged... It wasn't important...

They decided they needed to leave... nothing to stay for, everything was taken care of...   
Gah... Someone give me a lift?>>   
Mattchu moaned as they were walking out... he was lagging behind Kaen and Kichigai, badly..   
"Just keep walking.." Kaen said back to him...

Silence was heard for a while... Kichigai turned around to make sure he was still there... and was faced with a rather large figure... it was part raichu, with ears, tail, mostly furred.. but shaped rather like a mewtwo..   
"Mattchu?"   
~You know, I'm not sure whether to be pleased with Kijutsu for this or whether to be upset... but hey..~ He was a few inches off ground... ~It beats trying to walk, that's for sure...~

Kichigai sniggered.. Kaen looked up at the sun... wasn't setting, it was barely the middle of the afternoon...and you just had to wonder...   
The beginning of the end... or the end of the beginning?   


But they weren't quite out of the watchlight yet... From the top of the building, they were watched... watched until they were out of sight...   
The figure, unseen, held four of the pendants.. and wore the last around his neck... It was the pendant of fire... Moltres... The figure spread it's wings, and took off after the three...

He felt no harm in watching to see what happened next... Something had to, ne?

~End~   
  
  


(You know, considering I made the ending around 3min before I wrote it... I don't think it was that bad an improvisation ;) - Comment, please o.o; - It's done now, there's little excuse to say something...)


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